While delivering food in a forest area in Andhra Pradesh, impoverished Narasimha is held against his will by a band of Naxalites led by Velu, and forced to join them. He is anxious to collect his dues and return home to his wife, Uma; daughter, Chinna; and son, Mohan, but Velu keeps on putting it off. Narasimha gets to know and sympathize with members of this band, and befriends Lakshmi, who was gang-raped by several policemen. He is then asked to prove his loyalty by killing an informant/plainclothes police inspector – which he does – and even accompanies the band on an assault on a school, resulting in the death of some children. Traumatized after this incident, he decides to flee – and it is this decision that will not only estrange him from his family but also force him to be on the run from the band as well as the police.