Although a graduate in Arts, Shanta (Pandari Bai) agrees to marry a less educated widowed businessman Ratanlal (Balraj Sahni), shortly called Ratan, who has a son Mithu (Daisy Irani), from his first marriage and re-locates to live with him, his three brothers; Ramesh (Jawahar Kaul), Rajan (Raja Gosavi) and Baldev (Jagdeep) and his aunty (Durga Khote). Ratanlal permits Shanta to let her child-widowed sister, Lata (Nanda), to also live with them. Shanta soon earns the respect and love of everyone in the family. Ramesh marries Tara (Shyama), the daughter of Advocate Motilal (Bipin Gupta), while Rajan marries Mangala (Nalini Chonkar), the daughter of Munshiram (Shivraj). After these marriages, misunderstandings crop up, generally generated by Mangala, so much so that Tara joins forces with her, forcing the brothers to separate from each other, with Ratanlal dividing the property and business equally amongst them, and re-locating in a small village house, while Ramesh now lives with Tara and her brother, Jeevan (Anwar Hussain) and his wife. Rajan does not get along with Mangala, takes to alcohol in a big way, stops his medical studies and joins the army and Baldev re-locates to Bombay. The question remains: will this troubled family ever be re-united during their respective lifetimes?