During the time of British colonial rule and World War II in Midnapore, India, a Bengali grandmother named Apa weaves dolls out of jute fiber on her verandah. As she sings a shukrosangeet, her grandson Nilesh comes out to help her with her crafting. Once she has finished, she gives the doll to Nilesh; at the same time, a British colonial officer, Captain Frederick Bolton, approaches Apa’s home on horseback. Apa, having seen the officer before, is wary as she asks Bolton what he wants. Bolton replies that he wants Apa to weave a jute doll-- a putul-- for the Governor of Bengal’s wife. Saying that her dolls are not for sale and that she gives her putuls out lonely to those whom she chooses, Apa refuses. Bolton tells Apa she will regret her decision.

In a flash-forward, Apa looks out onto the jute fields outside of her home, which have been scorched and decimated by British colonial forces. Nilesh has died of starvation and Apa is suffering from it herself; she reveals through internal monologue that Midnapore has been experiencing a famine as a result of the colonial forces burning and confiscating their crops, their rice crop in particular. Apa reflects on the state of the famine, considering the corpses sprawled throughout the burnt fields and thinking about those survivors going to extremes to find nourishment. Days later, as colonial officers feed her gruel and she regains her strength, Apa is approached once more by Bolton. He tells her that the Denial of Rice Policy is in service of the Allied troops in World War II, and tells Apa she ought to be glad that the British are protecting India from the Axis forces. Bolton once more asks Apa for a doll for the Governor’s wife, and she acquiesces, asking for all of the supplies necessary in return. 

Having completed the putul in the style of the Governor’s wife-- a slim doll with indigo-blue eyes-- Apa approaches Bolton and requests that she deliver the doll herself. Apa says that she has made a Hatya’r Putul, and that only she knows how to make the putul laugh; eventually Bolton acquiesces to Apa’s request. Apa joins the soldiers and Bolton on their trip to Kolkata, listening all the while to their stories of the atrocities of war. Upon her arrival, Apa enters the Government House and, after a wait, presents the doll to the Governor and his wife, who are eager to see the putul laugh. Performing a ritual on the doll, Apa makes the doll cackle-- and in a twist, all of the onlookers including the Governor, his wife, and the soldiers, begin to cackle too and are unable to stop.

As Apa leaves the room, she sees Bolton trying to hold back the cackles of laughter, blood dripping from his nose and eyes; she has cursed the room with interminable laughter which will cause them all to die. As Apa leaves the House, she pulls out jute earplugs she has made from her ears. Speaking to Nilesh that she’ll “see [him] again soon,” Apa begins to laugh.