In India, on the seedy periphery of Calcutta, cabbie Narsingh (Soumitra Chatterjee) is fired after a big-shot policeman catches him driving his car dangerously. Now penniless, he takes a job shipping opium for the crooked Sukhanram (Charuprakash Ghosh). After having his heart broken by a Christian woman he loves, Narsingh slides deeper into the criminal life. However, he sees his chance for redemption when he meets Sukhanram's prostitute, Gulabi (Waheeda Rehman), who wants to escape her pimp.