Annamayya, with his photographic memory, masters the Vedas at a very tender age and spends time playfully with his two beautiful cousins (Ramya Krishna and Kasturi). Lord Vishnu comes in the guise of a sanyasi (mendicant) to divert him to spiritualism to fulfill the purpose for which he was born. Telling Annamayya that he will show him more beautiful things than he has ever seen before, the sanyasi takes him to a temple and shows him the idol of Chennakesavaswamy. Instantly charmed by the divine beauty of the idol, Annamayya forgets himself and is transfixed. His parents, in their effort to get him back to his normal life, send him to cut grass. On the way, he meets a group of devotees going to Tirumala and goes along with them. He remains there, writing and singing praises of Lord Venkateswara. Not knowing his whereabouts, his parents are in deep grief. Lord Vishnu comes in the guise of a Koya (tribal) and tells them that he is in Tirumala. Joyous at the news, they go there with Ramya Krishna and Kasturi and press him to marry them. Annamayya refuses to get pulled back into mundane world by marital strings. Again, Lord Vishnu comes down in the disguise of a Brahmin and convinces him saying that even the Lord whom he is worshipping has two wives. With such a strong case, Annamayya has no choice but to marry both his cousins and continues to serve God. One day, Saluva Narasimha Raya, the ruler of Penugonda, comes to Tirumala to worship Lord Venkateswara. Enchanted by Annamayya's devotional keertanas (poems), the king invites him to his court. Though he is unwilling to go to Penugonda, his wives persuade him saying that his songs could become more popular under the king's patronage. After a year of uneventful stay in the king's court, matters take a bad turn with Annamayya refusing the king's looking to sing in praise of his queen. Angered by his refusal, the king gets him chained and lashed. Suddenly fire breaks out and the chains melt away, when Annamayya sings a deeply devotional song on Narasimhaswamy, the fiery lion-god (yet another incarnation of Vishnu). Shaken by the turn of events, the king begs him for pardon. Annamayya's wives take the blame upon themselves, since he had come there at their insistance. They give away all their belongings gifted by the king to the poor and end their lives, singing praises of Lord Venkateswara.
