The film tells a story about the problems that come from playing “judi buntut” (a type of lottery gambling). People start to think and act irrationally. In the end the police comes to set things straight.

Topaz is a poor but honest teacher but the price of honesty keeps being bargained. First, Mursalin, the principal, considers that education can be bought. So Topaz is fired because a student’s parent complains about the child’s bad report card and Mursalin wants to have the numbers upgraded.

Ratih is an innocent and honest village woman. She is married to Hartomo, who considers her not a woman of his choice, as he married her at the request of his mother. Hartomo leaves for Jakarta to look for a new life while distancing himself from Ratih. Ratih and her mother-in-law follow him to Jakarta. Hartomo goes on an adventure with several women that he likes. Eventually, he is ready to marry the woman of his choice. On the other hand, Ratih has gone through soul searching and becomes a wise woman. This search leads to their meeting in a cramped house in a village area of Jakarta. Ratih has to choose either to return to Hartomo or accept Mulyono who sincerely loves her. With an intelligent reason, Ratih chooses Hartomo.

Three bachelors establish a service center for women, initially intended for sex, but instead it becomes a multi-purpose service agency. There is a grandmother who asks them to read comic books to her; there is also a woman who wants them to wash her carpets. But one of them always gets the most enjoyable part, which is the sex service for lonely women, or even to torture them by request. He also gets a girlfriend, who lives in Singapore, and accepts his profession.

An oplet (a small taxi) driver, Tarno, never feels that he earns enough in his village. So he decides to try his luck in the city and leaves his wife and child at home. His luck doesn’t change much until he starts working as a personal driver. But he then realises that he is working for the boss of a drug syndicate. As he refuses his boss’s order to sleep with Mira, he is locked up. Luckily his friend, who brought him into the syndicate, helps him to escape. Meanwhile, Rose takes her child to look for him to Jakarta. She wanders aimlessly and leaves her child in an orphanage. Fortunately, she is found by a group of street musicians who stumble upon her when she is about to be raped. Rose joins the group because she has a singing ability. Then the leader of The Brims Band discovers her and she becomes an even more popular singer.

Wamena is a businessman and widower who has a daughter, Narita. His secretary, Yuni, tries to marry Wamena and also tries to match Narita to Toni, who is actually Yuni’s boyfriend. Together, they plan to seize Wamena’s wealth. Alas, Narita already has a boyfriend, Arman, a poor young man. Yuni tries to manipulate the relationship by sending a fake wedding invitation. This causes Wamena a heart attack, which kills him. Narita is also against her father’s relationship with Yuni, so she storms out and leaves. Then Arman marries Narita and becomes the director of the company. Yuni and Toni resign from the company. Then Yuni tries to trick Arman by sending a pretty woman to seduce him and then takes a photo of them together. With this photo, she manages to trap Arman.

Suryani, helps Iskandar find a job and gives him love. But the happiness doesn't last long when Aminah, Iskandar's wife, and child come to see him. Then Suryani disappears while carrying Iskandar's baby in her womb. Six years later, Iskandar, assisted by his secretary Sri, finds Suryani and his daughter, Atik, in a village. Although she is reluctant in the beginning, she finally agrees to go with him to the city. Then Suryani avoids Iskandar and forbids her daughter from seeing Iskandar. When Iskandar's company is about to go bankrupt, Suryani comes to help by selling her house and the shop that Iskandar gave. Then the salvaged company is given to Aminah and her child, while Iskandar goes away to repent.

Legendary directors Wim Umboh and Sjumandjaja, decided to experiment by producing a script being written at the same time of the shooting. Mama is a complex story with two seemingly unrelated narrative threads. The first story revolves around Sanca and Anani. The second is about Ulli and Pandji, and in between the two stories is a third narrative, about Ulla, a religious prostitute and Ulli’s sister, and Suwaka.

James, the only child of Marni the poor widow, dreams of winning a lottery worth Rp 120 million. He is angry when his mother wakes him up and orders him to find a job. Going in and out of offices and unable to find work, he daydreams in the park of taking off the gold from the National Monument. With the money, he would establish Siluman Kontraktor company with Dewi as his secretary and also his girlfriend. Then he is woken up by the police who want to inspect his identity card. Considered insane, he is admitted to a mental hospital. Here, he is always rowdy and stirs things up. Most of the film is used to exploit the craziness of the hospital. James finally escapes.