Vellaichaamy (Vijayakanth) thinks the world of his three brothers, even giving up marriage when he learns that the woman he loves plans to send them to a hostel after the wedding. The brothers live with their grandmother (S. N. Lakshmi). Vellaichamy works hard to raise them, and they reciprocate his love and affection too. The eldest of the three, Muthu (Vijayakanth, in a double role), is a cook in a small hotel. When Vellachamy learns that Muthu is in love with Gowri (Meena), he goes to the city to his friend (Rajeev) with the marriage proposal, only to be insulted. Circumstances bring Muthu to the city, where he works as a cook in Gowri's palatial bungalow. Gowri, initially rude towards him, changes her attitude when she learns Muthu had been her childhood playmate, who she had been very close to. Noticing his humble nature, she falls in love with him. They get married.

Gowri fits right into her new home. Despite coming from a rich family, she helps out with the household chores and has no airs about her, a fact appreciated by Vellaichaamy, his mother and his brothers. Shanmugam (Livingston), Muthu's younger brother, who is training to be an inspector, marries Vellaichamy's friend's daughter Sumathi (Anju Aravind). Initially, she is rude and insulting to Vellaichaamy, but after being confronted by her husband about her behavior, she breaks down, saying that people around her, including her own father, had believed her to be a harbinger of bad luck, and what her husband had construed to be rudeness was in reality just her attempt to stay out of her in-laws' way to keep them out of trouble. Vellaichaamy comforts her and helps her regain her confidence.

The third and youngest brother Selvakumar (Prabhu Deva) is a doctor. Selvam has a girlfriend Nandini (Kausalya), a talkative and vivacious girl. Vellaichaamy approves of her but she turns out to be the daughter of Vellaichaamy's enemy Dharmalingam (Devan), whose sister was Vellaichaamy's ex-loverthe woman he had refused to marry. Dharmalingam refuses to get Nandini married to Selvam. However, upon extracting a promise from Vellaichaamy that he would leave the village after the marriage, he gives his consent. Nandini's cousin who wanted to marry her for the wealth kidnaps her, but Muthu manages to save her. In the end, the family is reunited by Vellaichaamy's return.