A quiet drama about a lonely, sad, middle-aged woman, Banalata, who has lived a solitary existence since her husband-to-be died the night before their wedding from a snake bite. Never having quite gotten over the tragedy, she rarely ventures out and is clearly very lonely. This changes when she agrees to allow a film production to shoot in a wing in her sprawling estate.

A writer meets five widows on a train to Puri. As the six lives begin to intertwine, the theme of the taboos of widowhood emerge; but so, too, does a philosophy of life and hope for the future. The performers collectively won Best Actress at India's National Film Awards in 1964.