In the late 1970s Tirunelveli, a man and a boy are trekking across a river, carrying homemade bombs. In another part of the village, a woman, man and a girl are also hiding from the police.Past: The narrator reveals that the man is Sivasaami and the boy is his son Chidambaram. In contrast, the woman, man, and child are Sivasaami's wife, Pachaiyamma, her brother Murugesan and daughter Lakshmi. They also had an older son called Velmurugan. They are a family of farmers living in Thekkoor (lit. southern village). Sivasaami has a close relationship with his older son but is distant, almost abusive with Chidambaram. Sivasaami's family, along with most residents of Thekkoor, are Dalits. Narasimhan is an upper-caste landlord from Vadakoor (lit. northern village), who needs Sivasaami's 3 acres of land for a factory, to which the family is against selling, especially Velmurugan.Pachaiyamma is attacked by one of Narasimhan's sons, to which Velmurugan retaliates by severely injuring him and his men and gets imprisoned consequently. Sivasaami pleads with Narasimhan to get Velmurugan released, and in reply, Narasimhan asks Sivasaami to prostrate before every male resident of the landlord's village as atonement. When Velmurugan hears of his father's humiliation, he beats Narasimhan with a slipper. In revenge, Narasimhan's henchmen, led by a hunter Kariyan, behead Velmurugan and dumps his headless body naked in their field. Pachaiyamma is broken with inability to even complain because of the missing head as evidence and after a year, Chidambaram is compelled to kill Narasimhan in revenge. Sivasaami sees the killing, cuts the street lights there, and tells the family, where they flee with Chidambaram.Present: Kariyan is asked to find the pair, tracks them down, and almost kills Chidambaram. Sivasami defeats them all but kills none. While the two recovers, Sivasaami explains why he spared their lives.Past: 20 years before, he was a village-famous moonshine brewer and trusted servant to Viswanathan, a landlord. One day, he convinces his boss to employ Pandiyan, Viswanathan's distant relative, as a clerk. Sivasaami's brother Murugan and Venugopal Seshadri, a Brahmin Communist lawyer, are attempting to regain their community's Panchami land from landlords who had seized it illegally. Sivasaami's elder sister's daughter Mariyamma proposes to Sivasami, who accepts. The family also accepts. Pandiyan slowly gains Viswanathan's trust and becomes his Mill accountant.Meanwhile, Sivasaami slowly falls in love with Mariyamma. When Sivasaami gives her sandals to wear, Pandiyan hits her and forces her to walk through the village with the sandals on her head. Sivasaami retaliates by hitting him with sandals in the middle of the village and ties him up, but is reprimanded by Vishwanathan. Sivasaami quits brewing and joins his brother. One night, before a meeting was conducted by Seshadri and Murugan with the other labourers, news arrives that Seshadri was arrested, and Sivasaami is sent to get the documents authorising the meeting. When Sivasami returns, Murugan and the others have been killed by Pandiyan and his men, while Sivasaami's family (including Mariyamma), along with many others, are burned alive in their huts.Enraged, Sivasaami brutally kills Vishwanathan, Pandiyan and their men. Sivasaami leaves his village and months later was found by Murugesan, who taught him farming. He's also introduced to Pachaiyamma, who is not getting marriage proposals. He narrates his story, and Pachaiyamma admires what he did for his family. He surrenders to the court and is given a light sentence. Afterwards, he marries Pachaiyamma.Present: Chidambaram is amazed at his father's past and starts to admire him. Sivasaami reconciles with his wife and daughter briefly, and he and his son go to Seshadri for help. Seshadri agrees to help them as long as they turn up to court the next day. The next day, the two get into the court premises but are forced to flee after Narasimhan's men ambush them. Sivasaami reluctantly sells his land to prevent Narasimhan's men from targeting his family. However, Chidambaram is abducted and tortured, in direct violation of the agreement. Sivasaami kills many of the henchmen and all of Narasimhan's family male members, though he and Chidambaram sustain serious injuries.Murugesan and their village people arrive armed and defuse the situation. The two villages agreed that the conflict should end and prevented a caste clash. Sivasaami's family has gathered in the court, and he has agreed to go to prison instead of Chidambaram if necessary. He tells his son to study hard and get a powerful bureaucratic job, and that, unlike land and money, the landlords can't seize their education, where Sivasaami smiles at his family as he enters the court.