Kalyanaraman, a guitar-playing folk music researcher from Madras, visits Mempatti hoping to collect folk songs. The locals house him in a crumbling mansion that once belonged to a zamindar. Enter Snehalatha, the late zamindar's vivacious granddaughter. While Kalyanaraman is drawn to local girl Velli, Snehalatha flirts openly with Velli's promised husband, Marudamuthu. Ghosts and diaries of the dead stir up an already volatile mix. Suspicion and ill will set off by rival romantic longings finally erupt in murder.