The Prasads live in Banaras circa 19th Century, and consist of Bhawani - a thug, who poses as a holy man, luring devotees and robbing them; his wife - who will have nothing to do with his ill-gotten gains; his son, Shankar - like his mother has distanced himself from crime; Shankar's wife and her three children: Kundan, Yashoda and Gopal. Bhawani forcibly takes Kundan with him to follow in his footsteps and forbids him from seeing the rest of the family. Kundan's childhood friend is Munni, an orphan, who leaves for Calcutta after being reunited with her biological parents. Then there is Bhawani's estranged brother, Naubatlal, and his two sons, Ganeshi and Dwarka. Naubatlal and Bhawani have hated each other, and things only get worse after Shankar gets killed, Bhawani claims that Naubatlal killed him, and has him killed. This causes deep strife within Bhawani's family, and he is left alone with only Kundan. Years later both the Prasad families have grown up - but their hatred has not ...