The plot of "Bangaarada Manushya" revolves around Rajiv (Rajkumar), a lad educated in the city. The movie starts off with Rajiv, who is on his way to visit his sister Sharadha (Adeevani Lakshmidevi). Upon reaching, he finds to his astonishment that his brother-in-law has died. As his brother-in-law was the sole bread-winner in the family, there was no one left to look after Rajiv's elder sister, her two sons (Vajramuni and Srinath) and her daughter, Saraswati, who are still pursuing education. The sister had not informed Rajiv of her husband's ill health as she thought Rajiv would find it hard to concentrate on his examinations. The elder brother Ramachandra (Loknath) is a puppet in his wife's hands (M. N. Lakshmi Devi) and always listens to her. As per her demands he doesn't even pay for funeral costs and returns to the city with his wife and daughter fearing that he would have to bear the burden of her sister's family. Rajiv decides the best way to get back on the horse is to start farming on his brother-in-law's land. But for that he needs capital, which he decides to ask from the village head and family friend Rachutappa (Balakrishna). Rajiv also asks money for Keshava (Vajramuni) and Chakrapani's (Srinath) education costs. Rachutappa lends without hesitation.