Written against the backdrop of Bengal famine of the early 1940s, "Nemesis" depicts the moral predicaments of a middle-class schoolteacher Surojit Nandi. Surojit married Sulota, daughter of the dishonest, affluent Nripen Bose. Nripen gives Surojit an ultimatum that if he [Surojit] can not earn five hundred thousand Taka within three months, he won't accept the latter's marriage to his daughter.