The plot is narrated by story teller for the benefit of the devotees. It begins with Goddess Parvathi Devi making a mud sculpture of a child in human form and breathing life into it. She makes this child her guard when she goes for bath. She orders him not to let anyone in. When Lord Shiva tries to enter, this child stops him and invites Shiva's anger. Shiva beheads him. Later, knowing from Parvati that the child is his son, he brings the child back to life but with an elephant head (Shiva had once granted this boon to a Rakshasa who became his devotee). They name him Gajanana (In Sanskrit, Gaja = Elephant, Anana = Face) and make him the lord of the Ganas. During a court function, Chandra (Moon god) laughs at him and gets cursed that no one shall see his face on Vinayaka Chavithi. Should anyone happen to see, he/she shall face ignominy brought on by false rumour.
Ramayya, Ranganatham and Venkayya are business partners. When they get huge profits, Ranganatham does not want to share it with his partners. So he murders Venkayya and puts the blame on Ramayya. Ramayya goes to jail, his wife dies and his children suffer at a relations' place. Aanand is their only supporter in that whole house for them.
Madhu also called Chinnababu (Akkineni Nageswara Rao) a zamindar's son is very gullible who every one laughs at. One day he meets a girl Vasanthi (Jamuna) who stays in a portion of his house. Vasanthi becomes very friendly with Madhu and behaves very close to him as she sees Madhu just as a brother and nothing else where as in Madhu mistakens Vasanthi's friendly nature to love. One day Madhu has to leave to Chennai for higher studies. He writes letters but he never get any reply from Vasanthi to any of his letters. When he comes back he finds out Vasanthi and her family left the city without telling anybody. Madhu finds a letter from which he realizes that Vasanthi only saw him as a brother. He gets very depressed and falls sick. Seetha (Savitri), Ramakrishnaiah (Gummadi)'s daughter takes care of Madhu by taking care of his health and giving him company. The whole story is how he recovers from the depression he faces because of Vasanthi.
Rangadu (ANR) is called 'Poolarangadu', because of his purity of life. His father Veerayya is a manager at a mill, and is framed for the murder of one of the partners, Purushotham. He is sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Rangadu works hard to get his sister Padma educated. She marries a doctor, Prasad, who happens to be Purushotham's son. When he finds out she is Veerayya's daughter, he leaves her. Rangadu is enraged and beats the guy who informs Prasad. Rangadu is sent to jail. There he meets his father, learns about his innocence and vows to get him out. Once Rangadu is released, he earns the goodwill of the other two partners and finally exposes them. Veerayya is released, Rangadu marries his lover Venkata Laxmi (Jamuna) and Prasad takes Padma back.