Ramulamma (Vijayashanti), is born in a Dalit community, that is considered amongst the lowest in the caste hierarchy and because she is a girl child, is thrown away by her mother. The infant is found by a Dalit couple who have no children of their own and adopted. They live in a typical feudal Telangana village where Doralu (fuedal lords) exploit peasants in the name of contracted-labour and debts.
As a teen, Ramulamma is asked to work at Dora ghadi (palace) to be a maid of Dorasani (wife of Dora). One day, Dora rapes Ramulamma and she is deeply traumatised by this heinous act. She leaves Doraghadi and stays away from the village. One day Dora's son also tries to forcefully sleep with Ramulamma. She refuses but, she can't do anything except killing him in his bed. When he comes to know about this truth, Dora wants to kill Ramulamma but she is rescued by Naxal leader Komranna (Dasari Narayana Rao) and taken to a forest where Komaranna and other naxalites live.
She learns the ideology, comes to believe in it and gradually becomes a leader after Komaranna. Meanwhile Ramulamma's son is killed by Dora. CBI officer (Krishna), who is sent by Central Government to look into the Naxalite issue, convinces Ramulamma and Komaranna to surrender.
However, he later realises that tthe government machinery is corrupt and Dora has bribed them to do his bidding. He gets to know that Ramulamma is going to be killed by Dora's stooges illegally. He helps Ramulamma in escaping from the jail but Komaranna and the CBI officer die in the firing with police. Ramullama finally kills the Dora.