Hajari, a middle-aged Bengali Brahmin is the male protagonist of the novel. He works as a cook in a hotel owned by Bechu Chakraborty near Ranaghat railway station. Here customers are often cheated and Padma steals hotel's food. Hajari is strictly against these, but being just a cook, he does not have right to say anything. Here he is regularly mocked and insulted by a maid of the hotel named Padma. Hajari dreams to start his own hotel, but for that he needs ₹200 (US$3.10). Kusum is a young widow, whom Hajari considers as his daughter. One day utensils of Hajari's shop are stolen and police arrests Hajari. After the incidence he loses the job.

After getting a loan from Kusum and Atashi, a girl from his village, Hajari starts his own hotel. Here he works hard with dedication and sincerity. In just a year his hotel becomes the most popular hotel of the area. Two other hotels of the area: one of Bechu Chakraborty and another of Jadu Banerjee almost get shut down. Hajari also gets a railway tender to manage a government-run hotel in the railway platform. At the end of the novel, Hazari signs a contract to manage a large hotel and goes to Bombay. Before leaving, he appoints Bechu Chakraborty (whose own hotel was sealed recently) as a manager of the railway platform hotel. He also gives Padma a job, who used to insult him every now and then.