Azhagu Sundaram (Dhanush) is a village bumpkin who comes from Tirunelveli to Chennai to earn money to buy gold bangles for his beloved mother Meenakshi (Veda Sastry). He gets entangled in the big bad world of dons and goondas and is unable to get back home to see his mother. On the other hand, Meenakshi lands up in Chennai in search of her son without even knowing his address or whereabouts. Meenakshi bumps into Shwetha (Meera Jasmine), a journalism student who takes pity on her, takes her home, and promises to help her find her son. Azhagu is now known as Parattai in Chennai and is taken under the wings of Khader Bhai (Nassar), a tea shop owner. Parattai is forced to take the arival as gang wars erupt and single-handedly he wipes out Deva (Adithya (actor)), Kesavan (Kadhal Dhandapani) and Suri (Aryan (actor)), all dreaded criminals in the city. On parallel lines, he never sees his mother and finally accompanies her dead body to the crematorium, thinking it is an orphan's corpse. He dances with others, offers flowers, and finally after her body is charred, he realizes that it was his mother.