A bureaucrat working for the railways uses the regulations to conceal himself and cloak any human reactions. Bhuvan Shome is a widower who even sacked his own son for negligence. But when he is about to dismiss another employee for taking bribes, he begins to be aware that he is bored and lonely. He goes off on a duck shoot where he meets simple peasants and a series of adventures that may make him more lonely but at least foster in him an awareness that he might safely become a little more human. Among his adventures is an encounter with a lively girl who, unknown to him, is the wife of the man he was about to dismiss ....