The story unfolds in a remote village near Palani called Kanakkanpatti with a poor goat herd Marimuthu (Vishnu Vishal) as its protagonist who lost education as his father died when he was 13. He also plays kabbadi very well. Marimuthu, along with his childhood friends Ayyappan (Vairavan), Sekar (Nithish), Murthy (Sundar), Appu Kutty (Appukutty), Suri (Soori), and Pandi (Ramesh Pandiyan), are kabbadi players who dream of winning a local tournament.

Sekar is a rich, short-tempered rice mill owner and is always captain of the team. Appu Kutty is a short tea shop owner who often gets a heavy scolding from his old mother-in-law. Suri is a very newlywed man who has only 3 hobbies: eating thrice as normal man, kabbadi, and making love. Pandi is a big, fat local store owner who is a son of an ex-army man. Marimuthu, who lost his father when he was young, works in a farm and can stay in his house only during holidays. Their kabbadi team, Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, is infamous for never winning a match in their history. In a subplot, Marimuthu meets and flirts with an unnamed beautiful young lady (Saranya Mohan) who comes visiting to his village's annual festival.