Udugan Yamaya portrays a mother and a child who becomes destitute with the disappearance of their breadwinner, a ferryman. Sirimal, a nine-year-old boy, lives with his parents and his father is the village ferryman. The suspicious activities of some rebel youth in the area and the occasional sound of gunshots are recurrent in the surroundings.

The Army visits the village looking for the youths and threatens the villagers about giving protection to them.
 

While the killing continues to control the rebelling young men for some it's the time to avenge those they dislike and others whom they want to dispose of. Sirimal and her mother make regular visits to detention camps and hospital mortuaries in search of Siripala.

Who is responsible for all the disappearances and abductions? Is it the state? Is it is the terror? Or individual jealousy and hatred? Udugan Yamaya is a tribute to those wives who lost their husbands and children who lost their fathers.