Jayant Desai directs this melodrama centering on Kanhaiyalal (K. L. Saigal) who, according to a fortuneteller at his birth, will consort with a prostitute, grow skillful with a knife, and be sentenced to the gallows. As the film progresses, this unpromising prediction comes true, but in an unexpected manner. After a family tragedy, Kanhaiyalal and his mother find shelter in the home of a kindly whore named Saguna (Suraiya) who eventually sacrifices her life for that of the protagonist. Later, he becomes handy with a knife when he goes to med school and becomes a surgeon. As Kanhaiyalal matures, he and his mother battle against crime and poverty.