Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual.
A king Parthiban (Ramadas) gifts a rare anklet (salangai) to a dancer Aparajita (Kumari Madhuri). She begets the king's son, Amarendran and hands him over to a priest along with the anklet.
A young boy discovers the existence of a group called the Mooncussers - a gang of pirates that work at night and sends out false homing signals to ships at sea.
First World War. In a largely rural area of neutral Spain, two families confront one another and play a part in embarrassing situations because they don't support the same side in the war.