The movie is set in the village of Bilaspur, Bihar in 1996. A mob kills two defenseless women, orchestrated by vested interests, and this incident sets the tone for much of the rest of the movie, which shows how powerful individuals evade inquiries into the crime.
The central characters are a young couple, Vinay (Ayub Khan) and Ketki (Madhuri Dixit). They become involved in the machinations of several powerful and unscrupulous villagers. Foremost among them is contractor Tirpat Singh (Mohan Joshi), a powerful, corrupt and ruthless man who oppresses poor people and especially women with impunity. Vinay becomes influenced by Tirpat, leading to domestic abuse, alcoholism, and a selfishness that alienates his loving wife and tears apart the whole family, despite her best efforts to fight this.
The rest of the movie deals with their efforts to break out of their situation, both within and outside of their relationship, and Vinay's and especially Ketki's bloody struggle to confront and defeat the forces of oppression and male domination in the village.