An elderly English woman Amy Wilkinson (Carole Trangmar-Palmer), almost at her deathbed

in London, wants to come down toMadras in search of a young man Ilam Parithi (Arya) whom

she last saw on 15 August 1947 to return a thali (traditional wedding threads) of his mother,

which he gave her as a sign of stating that she belongs to India and nobody can separate them.

However, after a turn of events, she had married another man from her hometown and thus felt

that the thali was no longer her property.

Amy Wilkinson arrives in Madras with her granddaughter Catherine (Lisa Lazarus), equipped

only with a picture of Parithi that was taken sixty years ago. Wilkinson interrogates various

people about Parithi's whereabouts. In the process, she recalls the events when she had first

visited Chennai, and the chain of events that took place:

A young Amy (Amy Jackson), the daughter of the Madras Presidency Governor, visits Chennai

(then called Madharasapattinam) along with her translator Nambi (Cochin Hanifa) and

encounters Parithi, whom she calls "brave man". Parithi, a member of the dhobi (launderer) clan

is also an experienced wrestler who trains under Ayyakanu (Nassar). He openly opposes the

British officials who attempt to build a golf course in the dhobi clan's dwelling place. He

challenges a cruel racist officer named Robert Ellis (Alexx O'Nell), who is also Amy's suitor, to a

wrestling match to decide the fate of his clan's home. Parithi is successful, and Ellis vows

revenge.

Following a series of secret meetings between Parithi and Amy, love blossoms between them,

and Parithi affectionately calls her "Duraiyamma", a polite term of addressing British women.

However a major threat comes in the form of independence for India on August 15, 1947, which

means that all White officials and their families, including Amy, would have to leave India. On the

eve of independence, all of India is celebrating. However Amy and Parithi, determined to be

together, run away and are hunted by an angry Ellis and his force. An Indian policeman helps the

two of them by hiding them in a clock tower on top of the Madras Central Railway Station, but

they are discovered by Ellis. After a fierce fight, Ellis is killed and Parithi is badly wounded. Amy

helps Parithi to escape by casting him with a life-raft into the Coovum river, before she is

captured and taken back to London. She had never known if Parithi survived, or what his fate

was.

Back in the present, Wilkinson is urgently called back to London to have a life-saving operation.

But she is determined to find Parithi and, by chance, encounters a taxi driver who assumes that

she would want to visit a charitable trust named Duraiyamma Foundation. The driver shows her

around the foundation, which has organisations providing free housing, education and medical

care (which were all promised to the dhobi children by the young Amy several years ago). She

realizes that the Duraiyamma Foundation was established by Ilam Parithi, and named after her.

Then When she asks the driver what became of Parithi, he leads her to his tomb, and reveals

that he died twelve years ago. She kneels before the tomb and claims the thali(nuptial threads)

as her own. She declares "It's mine!" before quietly passing away on Parithi's tomb. Her

granddaughter mourns for her, and the taxi driver is dumbfounded to learn that the old woman

was "Duraiyamma" herself. The epilogue shows Parithi and Amy (as they were in their younger

days) in the afterlife, depicted as a 1940's-style Madharasapattinam. As the credits roll, a series

of montage images are shown, illustrating the transformation of Madharasapattinam of the 1940s

to modern-day Chennai.