 Vishwam, an educated, unemployed youth, is an aspiring writer and had some of his short stories published in the newspapers earlier. He dreams of having his novel, titled Nirvriti (Ecstasy), published in the newspaper. He meets one of the newspaper editors (Vaikom Chandrasekharan Nair), who agrees to read his novel but declines to publish it as Vishwam does not have many writings to his credit. Sita is offered a job as a sales girl but cannot accept it because she is unable to pay the required security deposit of ₹ 1,000. With several unsuccessful attempts to get a job, the increasing financial pressure forces them to shift to a slum. With an old lady named Janaki (Adoor Bhavani) and a prostitute named Kalyani (K. P. A. C. Lalitha) as their neighbours, things do not work as desired for the couple and they end up selling Sita's jewellery.
