Duraipandi (C. Arunpandian) escapes from jail to take revenge on the gold smuggler Varadappan (Sethu Vinayagam). Varadappan tried many ways to kill Duraipandi in jail, but his henchmen failed each time. Pursued by the police, the fugitive Duraipandi lands in a remote village where a woman named Ponni (Gautami) helps him hide. There, he meets his former colleague Anbu (Choudary), surprised by Duraipandi, Anbu runs away and dies by getting hit by a car. Anbu is none other than Ponni's brother. After the funeral, Duraipandi tells Ponni the reason of his desire for revenge on Varadappan.

In the past, Duraipandi was a sincere and fearless custom officer. He lived happily with his mother (Srividya) and his sister Seetha (Anju). One day, Duraipandi seized a cargo full of illegal gold bars belonging to Varadappan. In the meantime, Seetha got engaged with the police inspector Sarath (Anand). Everything went well until Varadappan planned to send Duraipandi behind bars. Under the orders of Varadappan, Duraipandi's co-workers Mary (Abhilasha), Rocky (Rocky), Raghu (Rajesh Kumar), and Anbu betrayed Duraipandi, and Duraipandi was sent to jail by Sarath for trying to rape Mary. Seetha's wedding was cancelled; thus Seetha committed suicide and Duraipandi's mother became mentally ill.

Duraipandi knows that Mary was killed by Varadappan and the only information he had was Anbu's location. Duraipandi and Ponni fall in love with each other and start to live together. Later, Rocky is blackmailed by Varadappan, so Rocky tries to murder Duraipandi. During the fight, however, Rocky accidentally falls off a mountain cliff and dies. Duraipandi decides to take care of Rocky's baby son. Afterwards, Raghu gets killed by Varadappan's henchmen.

Duraipandi is still in pursuit of Varadappan to kill him, whereas the police want to capture the fugitive Duraipandi. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.