In 19th-century rural Bengal, Dayamoyee (Sharmila Tagore) and her husband Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) live with Umaprasad's family. His father, Kalikinkar Choudhuri, is a devoted follower of the goddess Kali. Since Umaprasad is away at school, Dayamoyee takes care of her father-in-law. One evening, Kalikinkar has a dream that Dayamoyee is an avatar of Kali and must be worshipped as such. Soon other people also come to believe that she is an incarnation of the goddess. After hearing the news, Umaprasad returns home but is unable to remedy the situation as Dayamoyee herself begins to believe that she is an avatar, a belief which soon turns to tragedy.