The movie starts with the marriage of a young couple. The bride Sindhura (Revathy) finds a child on a train. She wants to support the child, against the wishes of her husband's family, until she locates the child's parents.

She starts enquiring about the passenger who left his daughter on the train. Satyam (Om Puri), father of the child, has been on the chase by feudals and police. The police are unable to find him and arrest his pregnant wife. Tribals protested and planned to attack the police. They were stopped by Dr. Mitra (Charuhasan), a pro-tribal doctor. A sadistic officer forced the mother to do situps, resulting in loss of her life. Angered crowd killed the police officer, which caused more violence between officials and tribals.

During the course of the search, Sindhura is implicated in a false case and loses her married life. She faces the threats by rowdies to her own parents and sisters. She persists with the help of Rao (Sarat Babu) (a civil liberty activist and lawyer), goes to the village, brings the atrocities towards the oppressed people to light, and returns the child.

Ankuram ends with the message that citizens who can speak have the responsibility of speaking about the rights of the fellow citizens who can not speak.