Widowed Bhavanidevi rules her palatial home with an iron hand. Nothing is permitted to be touched or moved without her permission and approval. She has two sons, and one daughter. She dotes on her daughter, Shobha, and son-in-law, Khubchand. When her eldest son marries a young woman, Sheela, Bhavani is enraged because Sheela did not bring in enough dowry. To teach Sheela a lesson, she burns her foot, leaving a petrified Sheela submissive and open to even more abuse. When Bhavani's second son gets married without her permission, she is angered even more, and will not have anything to do with her new daughter-in-law, Durga. When Durga insists on living there, she is permitted to do so, not knowing that she has now entered a household where she will be another abused and submissive slave to her dominating mother-in-law.