The film begins with Dr. Angela Kathamuthu (Rohini), a civil rights activist and her cameraman in Madras Central Prison interviewing prisoners serving life imprisonment and awaiting the death sentence, for her PhD thesis in law, against the death penalty. When she enters the prison for the second day, there is a sit-in protest, demanding the reason for the sudden death of death penalty convict Narayanan, who secretly told Angela, the previous day, about immoral practices of Deputy-Jailer Peykkaman (Shanmugarajan). Angela meets Kothala Thevar (Pasupathy), who is serving a life sentence for assisting in the murder of 24 people in District of Theni. He tells his version of the story that led to his conviction.