Thenali Soman (Kamal Haasan) is a Sri Lankan Tamils who has come to Chennai for psychiatric treatment because of numerous Phobia caused by his trauma of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Panchabhootham (Delhi Ganesh) and his assistant (Ramesh Khanna), the doctors treating Thenali, are jealous of a relatively junior doctor Kailash (Jayaram) getting all the media attention. They send Thenali over to him, believing his failure to cure Thenali of his phobias will derail his success. Soon after their first appointment, Kailash heads to his home in Kodaikanal on a vacation with his wife Jalaja (Devayani) and his two children Arjun (Master Suraj) and Aishwarya (Baby Taj Nisha). Kailash tells Thenali to wait until after the vacation before his therapy can begin, but Panchabhootham asks for Thenali to go meet Kailash while on vacation.