Widowed Radha lives in rural India circa 1960s, along with two sons, Bharat and Puran. While she would like to educate her sons, and ensure that they lead good lives, she cannot do so on her own, and must sacrifice the career of one son so that the second can achieve this goal. For this purpose, Bharat willingly sacrifices his life, toils hard so that Puran can get a decent education, which he does, excels in his studies, and also goes abroad.

The family is very pleased, when Puran returns, hoping that he will ensure that they all live happily in India. But the man they know as Puran has been replaced by a cruel, self-serving man who now calls himself Kumar, and whose one goal is to usurp and divide the family property, so that he can continue to live a comfortable life. "Kasme vaade pyar wafa sab, baaten hai, baaton ka kya, koi kisika nahin, yeh jhootey naahtey hai, naahton ka kya..." by Manna Dey, continues to be popular even today, which translated means that "Promises, faith, love are mere unreliable words, no one is true to anyone, all relations are mere words..."