Forced into marriage with a mentally deranged man, Yashoda (Farida Jalal) gives birth to a child, only to have her husband kill himself and the child, leaving her devastated and alone. This leaves her brother, Bhanu (Anupam Kher) angry and bitter at this loss, and swears to avenge this humiliation. His vengeance is satisfied every year when he asks his employee and close friend, Mahipal (Arvind Swamy) to run a bullock-cart race, and defeat his sister's in-laws, and every year Mahipal wins. Bhanu, in his mid forties, has still not married, although he used to actively woo a village belle (Aruna Irani), who still has feelings for him.