Childless Malti is married to a honest man, Kailash Nath, who one day brings home a newborn baby boy and asks her to take care of him. Malti names the boy Ashok, and brings him up as her very own. Thereafter she gives birth to two boys, Amar and Anand. When Kailash testifies against dreaded bandit & devil worshiper, Jabbar Singh, he is threatened with death. Jabbar is sentenced to be hanged, but before that could happen he is killed. Jabbar's son, Sheroo, avenges his father's death by killing Kailash. Sheroo is arrested by Kailash's friend, Inspector Om, and sentenced to 20 years. A dying Kailash informs Malti that Ashok is Devki's, his first wife's son, and makes her promise that she wil continue to love Ashok as her own, which she does, and Kailash passes away. When she returns home she finds out that Amar is missing, possibly drowned. She blames this on Ashok and starts hating him. Sheroo escapes from prison, abducts Inspector Om and holds him prisoner, whipping him regularly.

Durga Babu, and his wife, Ganga, comes across Shyam, an orphan, who sings and dances on special occasions, and decide to take him home. Shyam meets with their daughter, Radha, and she slowly falls in love with him, but he thinks that she just wants to be friends. In his eyes, Shyam wants to be a free person, not tied down to anyone or anything, and would like to spend the rest of his life wondering, singing, and dancing. When he finds out that the family intend to get him married, he likens his plight to that of a caged bird, and flees, breaking Radha's heart. Will Shyam ever return? What impact will this have on the family?

Bhavani Prasad is a powerful thug, who masquerades as a priest. His son Shankar refused to follow his path so he wants his grandson Kundan to carry on the legacy. When his son protests, in a fit of rage, Bhavani gets Shankar killed and passes the buck to his cousin Naubat Lal. When Naubat Lal spills the beans he gets him killed as well, which deepens the family feud.