An impoverished man and his young son travel to Calcutta and look for work, in order to make money that'll save their ancestral land from being seized by a corporation.
In Calcutta at the turn of the century, two families (one wealthier than the other but both belonging to the same caste) live in adjoining properties. Their respective patriarchs fall out over the repayment of a loan and the intervention of a member of a lower caste in the families' financial arrangements. The rift causes much heartache to the younger members of the families, two of whom have secretly plighted their troth to each other.
One of the early films of Chhabi Biswas featuring him as a leading man, before he came to be associated with the dominating patriarch roles that have become iconic in Bengali cinema, the film is a tale of the love, relationships and ideals of two generations. Nutubihari is an idealist who has given up his love for Kalyani for the sake of his beliefs. He marries Bimala and becomes a lawyer, fighting for the rights of the poor against the feudal lords. Meanwhile, Kalyani comes to ask refuge after she becomes a widow and is inexplicably accepted by Bimala with a lot of warmth. As the years pass Kalyani's daughter Mamata and Nutu's oldest son Arun fall in love and wish to get married. However, the new-found fame and fortune turns his head and Nutu begins to resemble all the ideals and vices that he had always despised. On the other hand in an ironical turn of events, Arun comes to occupy the position once held by his father, highlighting the generational conflict of ideals.
Acclaimed director Bimal Roy’s debut feature about a struggling writer established him as an important Bollywood voice through its realistic portrayal of the simmering class conflicts in pre-independence India. Anup (Radhamohan Bhattacharya) loses his job writing speeches for a wealthy industrialist and decides to focus on finishing his novel. But when his former boss steals Anup’s unpublished book, he throws himself into socialist politics.
