Quadruplets of a rich family are separated at birth by a jealous uncle. One of them ends up with the real father, and grows up to be a suave millionaire. The other three end up in various places: one becomes a fireman, another a wedding cook, and the last a thug. The thug is coincidentally hired to bump off the millionaire, who in the meantime switches places with the fireman.

Circa the British rule in India, a man named Senapathy decides to rebel against the British in a violent way, learns a rare martial art that enables him to kill with his bare hands, and travels to Singapore, joins the Indian Liberation Army formed by renowned Subhash Chandra Bose, is one of the soldier's to engage the British into war. He subsequently joins a death squad in order to destroy British tanks. While all of the others succeed in carrying out their mission, Senapathy is captured, jailed, beaten, and mercilessly tortured by the British. Upon his release, he is looked after by a woman named Namrata, whose honor he had saved from the British - who had captured two truckloads of women protesters, burned their clothing, and forced them to commit suicide. Namrata and Senapathy marry, India gains independence, and they soon have two children - Chandrabose and Kasthoori. Years later Chandra quarrels with his honest and straight-laced father...

A thesis picture. In 1938, Gandhi's party is making inroads in women's rights. Chuyia, a child already married but living with her parents, becomes a widow. By tradition, she is unceremoniously left at a bare and impoverished widows' ashram, beside the Ganges during monsoon season. The ashram's leader pimps out Kalyani, a young and beautiful widow, for household funds. Narayan, a follower of Gandhi, falls in love with her. Can she break with tradition and religious teaching to marry him? The ashram's moral center is Shakuntala, deeply religious but conflicted about her fate. Can she protect Kalyani or Chuyia? Amid all this water, is rebirth possible or does tradition drown all?