One evening, shunned by their husbands and driven to desperation by their unfulfilled longings, Radha and Sita seek solace in each other and become lovers. Sita's attitude slowly spills over onto Radha, who becomes slightly more assertive. While the older Radha remains bound by tradition and subdued into silence, the younger Sita refuses to accept her fate. Radha is racked with guilt over her inability to have children and driven to frustration by the ritual. He puts Radha through an excruciating ritual in which they lie motionless next to each other whenever he wants to test his resolve. Accordingly, Ashok aims to stamp out all his desires and has not slept with Radha for the past thirteen years. The Swamiji teaches that sexual contact is permitted only as a means for procreation, and Radha is infertile. He also donates large sums from the meager store income to treat the Swamiji's hydrocele condition. Ashok is completely taken by these monastic teachings and suppresses all his desires. Many years ago, Ashok had come under the influence of Swamiji, a local religious preacher, who teaches that desires are the cause of suffering and must be suppressed. It is revealed that Radha faces a similar problem. She yearns to break out of this stifling situation. Sita spends her days slaving in the hot kitchen, and finds herself lonely and frustrated at night because Jatin is out with his girlfriend. Biji is immobile and speechless after a stroke, and Sita and Radha must constantly attend to her. The rest of Jatin's home is not rosy either. Jatin continues to date his modern Asian girlfriend, and Sita does not rebuke him. Jatin shows no care for Sita, and she learns that he only agreed to the arranged marriage in order to put an end to Ashok's nagging. Ashok and Jatin run a small store that sells food and rents videotapes. Jatin is in a typical joint-family arrangement - he lives with his older brother Ashok, his sister-in-law Radha, his paralysed mother Biji and the family servant Mundu. The film flashes forward to Sita, a newly married woman on honeymoon with her husband Jatin, who is distant and shows little interest in Sita.
Her mother tells her a tale of a person who wanted to see the ocean, but Radha says that she does not understand the moral of the story. The film opens with young Radha sitting in a mustard field with her parents.