The sole dream of Ramu, eldest son a family of migrants, and Uma to build a happy life together is burdened by a pile of obstacles on their way due to economic upheaval in post-partition Calcutta.

Ekhonee depicts the lives and frustrations of a bunch of youth struggling to cope with the adversities of a bureaucratic society. There's a bunch of college students Arun, Tiklu, Shambhu, Biman, Sujit, Urmi whose lives undergo a change after the carefree days of college are over.

After an old college friend offers him a job at an iron foundry, the upright and honest Ishwar leaves a shanty town on the outskirts of Calcutta where he lives with a group of refugees from East Bengal. With plans to forge a solid living for himself, sister Sita and Abhiram, an orphaned boy he offers a home to, Ishwar is accused of selling out and deserting his people.

The bread-winning daughter in a middle-class family fails to return from work one evening. The saga begins with worries at home, followed by midnight searches and finally a deepening crisis arising out of economic and moral constraints prevalent in the society. Yet the film speaks of hope and of strength hidden behind despair.

The tragic story set in the late 1930s, just before famine struck Bengal. It tells of the marriage of a dumpy middle-aged salesman of small goods to a beautiful teenager, and how, after initial days of happiness together, a series of misfortunes strike which slowly embitter the man.