Mamu (Sarath Kumar) and Machi (Anandaraj), two orphans and heartless criminals, are sentenced to the death penalty. Raja (Udhayan), their cellmate, is an innocent youth who is in love with Kaveri (Dharini). Mamu and Machi decide to save Raja and they go to his village before their death sentence.

The film begins with the young man Sakthivel (Ranjith) coming back to his village. At his return, he is respected and treated as God by the villagers, they call him Thirukkaval. Thirukkaval still hates his father Chettiar (Jaishankar), stepmother Azhamu (Kavitha), stepbrother and stepsister. The kind-hearted Thirukkaval quickly makes enemies including Munnumunuthan (Vasu Vikram), Kodumudi (Kazan Khan) and his father Chettiar. Meanwhile, Pasupathy (Ravi Shankar) and Chinna Pulla (Rajakumari) fall in love with each other. The affair is soon exposed, so Thirukkaval arranges their wedding. Shortly after, Pasupathy dies in an accident and the villagers blame the innocent Thirukkaval.
In the past, Thirukkaval lived happily with his father Chettiar, his mother Shenbaga Valli and his baby sister Chittu. Chettiar had an affair with Shenbaga Valli’s sister Azhamu and Azhamu became pregnant. Unable to bear the situation, Shenbaga Valli killed her baby daughter and committed suicide. The angry Thirukkaval injured his father’s foot and run away. He then became a child labourer to make a living.
Chinna Pulla’s mother Appayi (Manorama) passes away. Thereafter, Thirukkaval is accused of having an affair with the widow Chinna Pulla. What transpires next forms the rest of the story.

An evil baby boy is born on the day of alignment of all eight planets. As he grows up, his evil deeds disrupt peace in the society. Only a sage, who holds the secret to kill him, can save the world.

Rajinikanth is an auto mechanic and brother of Vijayakumar who works in Jaishankar’s estate as a clerk. The movie portrays the events dealing with the clash between Rajini and Jaishankar. Radha is the love interest of Rajini and Y.G.Mahendran provides the comic relief. The movie was a big hit at the Box Office.

A spoiled young heiress marries a poor man in order to inherit her grandfather’s property.