Annayya is a story of a person named "Annayya" (Ravichandran), who is the son of a rich Landlord (Srinath) and had lost his mother at the time of his birth. Annayya's father can provide him anything he wants, but Annayyas' only desire is to get a mother's love. In order to fulfill his son's desire, Srinath marries Nagamani (Aruna Irani), thinking that she could take care of him more than his real mother would. As the day passes, Nagamani's brother Dheerendra Gopal enters into Annayya's house by convincing Srinath that he has lost all his properties due to some loss. Then Dheerendra Gopal asks her sister Nagamani to get the property of Annayya to be transferred into her name so as to think of her child, which is about to be born. Then Nagamani makes Annayya follow each and every step that his step- mother says and not to take even a single decision without her permission. He even stops going to school and becomes a slave to his mother.

As the time passes, Annayya grows up and marries Saraswati (Madhoo). Saraswati discovers that Nagamani's motherly love is fake and all that Nagamani wants is to capture Annayya's wealth. Then the battle begins within the household between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law which involves Saraswati trying to outdo Nagamani. This involves Saraswati voicing her concerns to Annayya about his mother, resulting in Saraswati being slapped once by her husband, and alienating him. This humiliation does not worry Saraswati, who eventually wins the battle once Nagamani realizes the importance of loving her stepson back as much as he loves her.

The music composed by Hamsalekha was well received and the audio sales hit a record high.

The story line has been inspiration for various movies and has had various remakes in Indian film industry.