The movie is about today's urban aspirations as represented by a young couple living in Bombay. The wage earner works in the field of plastics - a kind of metaphor that runs through the film. His wife gives up her early promise as a classical dancer in order to settle into marriage, which is threatened when their only son turns out to be autistic. He is a retarded teenager with a flair for painting. His condition distances the parents, the father torn with guilt and the mother craving success points from him.

She gets it when a drug works wonders on the boy, but at a severe cost.