A carefully nuanced study in religious obsession, Ray's film centers on Biswas, a man convinced that his young daughter-in-law Tagore is in fact the goddess Kali reincarnated. Baroque and melodramatic, both in terms of its images and its story, it mounts a lucid and very moving argument against the destructive nature of fanaticism and superstition, as Tagore gradually loses all sense of her own individuality. The film is full of striking images and provides intriguing glimpses into religious fervor on the sub-continent.

An aspiring poet leaves Calcutta to take a job as postmaster in a small village where he struggles with the monotony of rural life. After a near fatal bout with malaria, he develops a close relationship with his devoted servant girl whom he teaches to read and write. The strongest of three short films in Ray's "Three Daughters" trilogy was based on the tales of beloved author Rabindranath Tagore.