Ambikapathy ('Pakoda' Pandian) is an orphan runaway who escapes from his cruel uncle to Chennai and eventually ends up at Marina Beach. He earns his livelihood by selling drinking water packets and later poached chickpeas to people visiting the beach. His calm and mature manners win him the admiration and later the friendship of other boys employed at the beach. Ambikapathy dreams of being educated, so he works in the day to save money for schooling whilst trying to study at night on his own. His desire to be enrolled in a proper school slowly begins to rub off on the other children on the beach. An old man (Sundararajan) and postman (Jithan Mohan) are the guardian of sorts for these street-children. The beach also attracts many lovebirds; one such couple is Senthilnathan (Sivakarthikeyan) and Swapnasundari (Oviya).