Seshachalam and his wife Nancharamma secretly swap their infant son with their rich brother-in-law's new born son. Unaware of this Dewan Bahadur raises him as his own son. One son grows up to be a police and other a thief.

Landlord Narayan Rao's son Devdasu and Parvathi, their poor neighbour's daughter, fall in love. But Devadas's family does not approve of the relationship.

The film begins with Kalavathi, the only daughter of Simhala King Rajasimha, who is averse to marriage. So was Sudhakara, son of King Parthapa of Avanthi. Unable to convince him to get married, King Parthapa keeps him, along with a servant Dooradarsi, in a dilapidated house in the forest.

It chronicles the legend of the progressive Telugu poet-saint Vemana from his being a rebellious and hedonistic youth from a landed elite to a renunciate.