The story is of a neighbourhood grocer has to defend himself against the charge of murdering the state’s chief minister. Kuldip Patwal insists that he is innocent even though he was at the crime scene and was standing at the spot from where the murder weapon was fired. Kuldip says that he remembers nothing, and he maintains his innocence when the case reaches court.

Kuldip is represented by do-gooder advocate Praduman and is opposed by Simrat, who happens to the chief minister’s widow. Kuldip’s sorry life unfolds through numerous and never-ending flashbacks, his inability to get a job because of reservations for the backward classes; his run-in with corrupt government officials; his frustration at the general state of affairs.

The chief minister turns out to be a Rajiv Gandhi-type reformer who is arm-twisted by electoral compulsions into compromising his ideals.

Is there a greater conspiracy at work here?

Could the head of the all-powerful Reliable corporation be involved?