The movie is about the love between a Tamil man, Balaji a.k.a. Baloo, and a Telugu woman, Swapna, who are neighbors in
Visakhapatnam. They come from totally different backgrounds and can hardly speak the other's language. When Baloo and Swapna admit their love, there is chaos in their homes as they face an unexpected test of their love. The movie begins with an old, ruined building near the beautiful beach of
Vizag. The dilapidated walls of the building are covered with many names, but two names stand apart from the rest---Baloo and Swapna. Baloo is a happy, carefree young man who belongs to a
Tamil family. He resigns his job after his boss scolds him and he returns to his home in Vizag. His orthodox Tamilian father is always at loggerheads with the Telugu-speaking neighbour family. The family has a beautiful daughter named Swapna, a college student. While being followed on her way home by a creepy bookstore clerk (who'd earlier shown her a book of nude photos), Swapna sees Baloo jogging and starts a one-way conversation with him. Seeing this, the bookstore clerk retreats. Swapna thanks Baloo for pretending to be her friend, but he reveals that he doesn't understand Telugu. Baloo wants to make friends with her. He tries to meet her later pretending his motorcycle has broken down but he crashes and ends up in the hospital. Impressed, Swapna sends him a gift: a ceremonial mask with her name on it and asking his name. Despite the nasty conflicts between their families, Baloo and Swapna fall deeply in love with each other. They get to know each other, experiencing the joy and innocence of first love. One day, however, Swapna fairly misunderstands Baloo when he forcefully kisses her and is offended and breaks up with him. Despite Baloo's efforts to make her understand his love, Swapna ignores him and remains angry. A week later, Swapna finds Baloo awake all night looking at her window hoping that she would forgive him. Heartbroken at seeing him like that, Swapna forgives him and signals him by turning her room light off and on repeatedly. They meet the next day and Swapna expresses her love for Baloo by kissing his hand. The lovers unite and visit the beaches, forts, waterfalls and scenic places of Goa. While returning home late at night, Baloo's motorcycle runs out of petrol. They pose as a newly married couple and ask for a lift in a car. To their shock, Swapna's father is in the car and he takes her home immediately. Baloo and Swapna keep meeting each other and fall in love even more. One day when Swapna returns from college after meeting Baloo, she finds the lewd bookstore clerk at her home. The man has secretly clicked pictures of her and Baloo together and shown them to her parents. Burning with rage, Swapna's mother forbids her from seeing Baloo and accompanies her everywhere. Heartbroken, Baloo makes a plan and stealthily meets Swapna during her college lunch break. They go to a hotel for lunch and Baloo pauses the elevator halfway to spend some time with Swapna. He sings a love song for her using his broken Telugu. This leads to an amused crowd at the hotel lift listening in. They are reprimanded by the guard as they exit. Baloo and Swapna's families find out. In anger, they lock up Swapna at home and Baloo's father scolds him. Despite the opposition, Baloo boldly goes and meets Swapna in her home in the presence of her parents and expresses his love for her. Swapna's mother screams and claims that Baloo is ruining their family honor. Finally, both the families meet and Baloo and Swapna affirm their love for each other. Their families agree to allow them to marry on one condition – that they separate from each other for one year without any contact or communication. Afterwards, if they still want to be together, they can get married. Baloo and Swapna reluctantly agree to the contract. Baloo goes to
Hyderabad for a job, while Swapna stays behind in Vizag. During their year of separation, Baloo writes a letter every day to Swapna, in which he expresses his pain and love, but doesn't send it to her because of the contract. He learns to speak Telugu fluently from a young widow named Sandhya. To drown his pain of separation, he also learns classical dance from Sandhya. On the other hand, Swapna visits all the places where she and Baloo used to go which brings back old memories. She also visits a rocky hill by the beach, where their names 'Baloo' and 'Swapna' are painted on the highest rock. In order to make Swapna forget Baloo, her mother destroys the cassette tape that he had given her. The mother also burns her only photo of Baloo which Swapna crumbles into her tea and drinks in defiance. In response, Swapna writes Baloo's name on every inch of her bedroom wall, making her family even more angry. Swapna goes on a college trip to
Mangalore, where her mother sends her cousin Chakram to spy on her. Chakram wants to marry Swapna, but she doesn't like him. Coincidentally, Baloo also comes to Mangalore due to a job assignment. He spots Swapna and follows her to her hotel room, but bumps into Chakram, who lies that he and Swapna are married. A shocked Baloo meets Swapna's college friends and asks about her, but they mistakenly say Chakram and Swapna are soon to be married. Baloo is heartbroken and proposes to Sandhya, thinking that Swapna was unfaithful to him. Sandhya is surprised but accepts and fixes their wedding date. Later she finds in his room all the letters he wrote to Swapna, and discovers the truth. Sandhya goes to Vizag and meets Swapna and learns that she is not married and is still waiting for Baloo. Seeing their true love, Sandhya sacrifices her love and decides to unite Baloo and Swapna. She tells the truth to Baloo and cancels their wedding, urging him to go to his beloved Swapna as their one-year contract was completed. Sandhya's older brother hears that the wedding is cancelled and thinks that Baloo abandoned his sister. In a drunken, angry state, he phones his criminal friend in Vizag and asks him to 'completely get rid' of Baloo. When Baloo arrives back in Vizag, and is about to meet Swapna in their favorite beach spot, Sandhya's older brother's criminal friend and a gang brutally beat up Baloo. Meanwhile, Swapna is heading to the beach to meet Baloo. The lascivious bookstore clerk tries to attack her, Swapna tries to escape him and falls from the second floor. The bookstore clerk, seeing her almost dead from the fall, rapes her despite her protests. Swapna and Baloo meet after the clerk and the goons flee. However, Baloo is badly injured. Distraught, feeling they can't live without each other, they join hands and leap off the cliff together, a symbol of doomed love. == Cast ==