Shankar (Prashanth) is a graduate of BSC nautical science waiting for a job in the shipping industry. He is a tenant in the house of Bhanu (Simran),a medicine student, who is also his good friend and confidante. They spend almost all their time together, and she seeks him out as a refuge due to her stepbrother Panneerselvam (Raghuvaran), whom she dislikes but is forced to live together with. One day while dropping off Bhanu at a bus stop, Shankar sees a pretty girl Sarika (Laila) and likes her. He tells Bhanu about Sarika and they soon find out that Sarika is also interested and they both eventually fall in love during their daily commute in the bus. Meanwhile, Shankar's rude and abusive father Chidhambaram (Vinu Chakravarthy) lands in Chennai for his wife's (Jyothi) heart surgery, and tells Shankar that his marriage with a girl is being arranged swiftly and the same situation happens in Sarika's house simultaneously. But both Shankar and Sarika are unaware that they themselves are the prospective suitors arranged for each other by the parents and thus avoid the formal meeting ceremony. Chidhambaram gets irritated and creates a ruckus at Sarika's house and after a huge argument, both the parents cancel the marriage arrangements.
Meanwhile, Panneer misunderstands the friendship between Bhanu and Shankar and assumes they are in love. He reveals this to Shankar's parents and asks their approval for the marriage. Shankar and Bhanu are surprised at this turn of events but Bhanu makes Shankar temporarily accept this proposal in order to pacify his ailing mother until her surgery is over. Further misunderstandings occur between Shankar and Sarika when Panneer finds them together and he exposes Shankar's wedding arrangements with Bhanu to Sarika. She is devastated and breaks up with Shankar. In order to solve the problem, Shankar asks Bhanu to explain the truth to Panneer but she surprisingly refuses, revealing that she has been secretly loving Shankar for years and she merely used the arranged wedding plans to work in her favor. She explains that she initially sacrificed her love after realizing Shankar is in love with Sarika. However, after so many confusions including a failed marriage arrangement with Sarika, Bhanu feels that she is rightfully destined to be with Shankar. Shankar tries to explain that he has no such feeling towards her but Bhanu simply refuses to listen. Meanwhile, Sarika learns about Bhanu from the bus driver Vellaisamy (Dhamu) and realizes Shankar is innocent and reconciles with him. Bhanu is infuriated and in order to keep Sarika away from Shankar, she threatens her with the help of Doss(Lawrence Raghavendra), Sarika's stalker whose advances have been refused by her in the past. To celebrate their reconciliation, Shankar presents a saree to Sarika, but on the advice of Bhanu, Doss and his friends tease her and remove the saree forcefully in public. Bhanu, who witnesses this event, brings the humiliated and shaken Sarika home on the pretext of consoling her and getting her new clothes and to Sarika's horror, she reveals her true identity and blackmails her to leave Shankar alone. Devastated and embarrassed by this incident, Sarika tries to commit suicide by consuming poison. Meanwhile, Panneer, who eavesdropped the conversation, realizes his mistake and condemns Bhanu for her selfish actions. Sarika is brought to the same hospital where Bhanu studies and because of the ongoing doctors' strike, she is unable get any treatment. Bhanu, who happens to be there, is forced by her friends to help save Sarika. Shankar gets to know about Sarika's condition and furiously goes after Doss and thrashes him and his men.
Shankar arrives at the hospital after Doss reveals the truth that Bhanu is the person behind all this. But he finds that Sarika is being treated by none other than Bhanu. He begs Bhanu to save Sarika and promises to marry her in return for Sarika's life. The operation is successful and as they walk out of the room, Bhanu tells Shankar that her love for him is gone after she had seen the extent to which Sarika has gone for him and that it would be impossible for Bhanu to find a place in Shankar's heart. She apologizes to Shankar for her behavior, he forgives her, and gets united with Sarika. Bhanu also finally finds peace with her brother Panneer and realizes his affection for her.