This is the journey of Sindhutai Sapkal, a poor village girl who grew up tending buffaloes while craving an education, but her unsympathetic mother had her married off to an older man when she was 12 years old. What could have been a predictable life took a much different course when Sindhutai was unjustly accused of carrying another man's child and was thrown out of the house by her husband and his family.
