Baputty goes to his friend Abdu's house after his death to support his family and falls for Nabeesa, Abdu's sister. However, Nabeesa's greedy mother tries to get her close to the rich Kunjali.

Kadhaveedu' is a dedication to Malayalam being accorded the Shresthabhaasha (Malayalam has been declared a Classical language in 2013) status and presents, as a single entity, three different stories penned by the doyens of Malayalam literature - Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer, M T Vasudevan Nair and Madhavikutty. The film is an anthology with adaptations of stories written by renowned Malayalam fiction writers Basheer, M. T. Vasudevan Nair and Madhavikutty (Kamala Surayya).. The stories have been tweaked to fit in a modern setting and the script has been conceived by the director himself.

Set in the backdrop of the seventeenth century, the royal family of Kottayam is ruled by Pazhassi. The British government begins to impose heavy taxes on the locals in the Thalassery region of Kerala.

A seventeen year old Nambudiri widow gets pregnant and her orthodox community begins the ritual known as Smarthavicharam (Inquiry into conduct). Inspired by a controversial incident known as "Kuriyedathu Thathri Smarthavicharam" that happened around the beginning of 20th century in Kerala, India

Saleena is happily married to Mathew , a wealthy estate owner. Inexplicably she commits suicide much to the shock of Mathew. He firmly believes that there existed no reason for her to do the act and asks his journalist friend Balu to investigate why. Balu, who was also close to Saleena, tries to piece together clue from her past to figure out the answer.

The film portrays the bitter side of life in a circus camp. Humans are just valarthumrugangal or pet animals, treated worse than the animals in a circus.

Appu is very close with his elder sister, Malu. When she gets married to Govindan, she takes Appu along with them. But problems arise when Appu becomes jealous of Govindan.

Rajgopal decides to go to Dubai as an illegal immigrant hoping to find a secure job. There, he makes friends with others who are in a similar position.