An event in a young Indian girl Meena, who now lives in America, triggers memories of her maid Radha, who brought her up into the teens when the family lived in Southern India in the 1980's. The story follows the relationship between Meena and Radha from her childhood to young adulthood in the broader social and hierarchical context built around domestic help in India.

The story of Radhamma revolves around Radha, a domestic help from a small town in Kerela, who came to live with the Krishnan family in the early 80?s in the city of Madras, as soon as they had their first child ? Meena. The story starts at the point where Meena, now in her 30?s, married and living in America, realizes, the imminence of mortality when she thinks of her aging parents and of this one woman, Radha, who raised her alongside her mother, sometimes amalgamating the role of father and mother into one. Meena struggles with the fact that this relationship between her and Radha can?t hold the dynamics of the past any longer. The story grows from the little observations 9 year old Meena makes of Radha?s habits to situations where we see Meena realize, from childhood until adulthood, that Radha is indeed alone and the helplessness Meena feels, or perhaps guilt, that she didn?t and can?t do enough to support, defend or take care of this ?other? mother. The story travels back and forth between the past and present and explores the relationship the two women shared, starting from when Meena was about 9, up until the point Radha starts to move away from Meena?s life as she enters her teens. Radha is then sent to be with a family close to the Krishnan?s, and who just had their second child. The new family happens to be a well-known film director in the Tamil movie Industry, and Radha seems to enjoy cooking for celebrities who often visit her new home. The two women meet again at Meena?s wedding before they go their separate ways, staying in touch, on and off through routine phone calls whenever Meena visits India, once a year. The conversations center around the famous people Radha gets to cook for, and how she enjoys raising her ?new? little ?Meena?s? and ends with the persistent questions of when Meena will ever start a family of her own. Something Meena finds ironic, considering that the dynamics of the society we live in, never gave Radha a chance to have a family of her own?or did she find that in the families she worked for?