After his mother's demise, a 10-year-old Rinku, is sent off to live with his elder brother Jiten in Bailadila, the interior of Chattishgarh. Jiten is a passionate artist struggling with a teaching job in a school. His student Dharmendra befriends Rinku and together they explore the contours of the Bailadila hills and their massive mining machinery. Uninterested in preparing for the upcoming school entrance examination, Rinku becomes increasingly entangled in the life of Bailadila, the town. Jiten's friend, Jonathan, often uses Rinku to run odd errands for him, almost a pawn to get his work done. Rinku is exposed to guilt, lust, anger, and agony and left with faded innocence. Jiten projects his frustrations on Rinku, in navigating between meeting his father's expectations and failing in his ambitions as an artist. Consequently, Rinku loses out on his friendship with Dharmendra. Rinku gets to know that Dharmendra has left school as well. Rinku feels guilty about the entire situation.