The year is 2017, and Dalit lawyer Ramnath Kovind has just been elected to the presidency, reigniting the country’s long-standing caste conflicts. Poochiyappa (Manickam), a lower caste basket maker in a tiny Tamilian village, dreams for a better future for the orphaned Kumaresan (Ashwin).

The old guy works for Vellappayan (Suruli), a cranky landlord who gets a sudden hankering for pork and instructs Poochiyappa and the pig rearer Rangan to get a pig and cook it for him. However, the action has the potential to harm not only the community’s religious sensibilities, but also to draw caste-based taunts and even violence against the poor males.

Poochiyappa’s friendship with Kumaresan, meanwhile, gets stronger than ever. Seththumaan is based on acclaimed writer Perumal Murugan’s short tale “Varugari” (Fried Meat), for which he also wrote the screenplay.