Panicker (Madhu) is an honest Public Works Department engineer who assiduously resists offers of bribes by an assortment of local building contractors. Panicker's one ambition is to see his son, Unni (Mammootty) succeed in medical school. Unni and his friends (Mohanlal et al) set up a "house of sin" right behind the college. The other boys are from wealthy families, to keep up with them, Unni starts by stealing from his parents, eventually taking bribes on his father's behalf without his knowledge. In the process, he alienates his father and gets thrown out of home, leaving his mother (Srividya) and cousin/girlfriend (Poornima) torn between the two men. The film equates bribery and debauchery with western popular culture influences - which was a fairly common theme across films in Hindi and Tamil as well around that time.