Like The Cloud-Capped Star, The Golden Line is set in a refugee neighborhood on the outskirts of Calcutta. The film opens in the early 1950s, with young Ishwar and his little sister Seeta taking in an abandoned boy, Abhiram. Years later, Seeta and Abhiram fall in love, but the sudden reappearance of Abhiram's mother confirms Abhiram's lower-caste status. Ishwar's determination to find a high-caste husband for his sister sets the stage for tragedy.