In the opening episode of Daldal, the story unfolds with the arrival of two undercover female cops, ACP Rita Ferreira and Inspector Indu Mhatre, who raid an orphanage in a red-light district of Mumbai. Their mission is to rescue a group of young girls from being kidnapped and trafficked. The leader of the sex trafficking ring, Dada, attempts to kidnap a young girl from her mother, who is a sex worker. Just as Rita appears to arrest Dada, the woman falls off a building and dies. Rita shoots Dada and brings the little girl, along with all the other girls, to a shelter home. The incident gains significant media attention, and Rita is praised for her efforts.
That night, Rita returns to her apartment, which she shares with her ex-boyfriend, Adi. She informs him that she will be moving into the staff quarters and asks him to speak to his mother about their breakup. Adi ventures if they can give their relationship another chance, but Rita firmly declines.
Simultaneously, ACP Vikram Sathe, a direct competitor of Rita's, discusses with Inspector Jatin about the impending promotion that will unfortunately go to Rita due to her involvement in the sex trafficking case. Jatin tells Vikram that he believes he deserves the promotion more than Rita.
That night, as Rita watches the news reports about the case, she is transported back to traumatic incidents involving her mother, who was also a cop. She calls her drug peddler, Doctor Peddler, and asks him to meet her at the beach. There, she runs into Manohar, a resident who recognizes her from the news reports.
Manohar reveals that he is a dog lover who feeds the stray dogs every night and tries to engage in small talk with the cop. Rita, disguised in a hooded jacket, tries to escape from Manohar. She eventually finds Doctor Peddler and receives the weed that she smokes in the pouring rain to ease her stress.
The next morning, as Rita drives to work in the police van, she hears a police radio report about a murder on the same beach from the night before. Rita visits the crime scene, an under-construction bridge. She is shocked to see that the victim is none other than Manohar, the dog feeder from the night before.
The state in which Manohar has been found has sparked concern among the investigating cops, including Rita. Meanwhile, Vikram reaches out to the Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Deshpande, to discuss the promotion. Sanjay asserts that the department is striving for inclusivity by promoting a female cop, subtly implying that Rita was going to be promoted not based on merit but to meet a requirement.
On the other hand, Prabhat Raut, the head of Geeta Rehabilitation Centre, discovers an addict named Sajid sleeping in his room. He realizes that Sajid had relapsed the night before and takes his phone away to prevent him from contacting his dealer. When Sajid wakes up, he tells Prabhat that he's finding it incredibly challenging to quit drugs.
Prabhat grows concerned for the young boy. He gets Sajid's broken phone repaired to call the last person he spoke to. On the other hand, Rita and Indu meet the forensic expert, who claims that Manohar was killed with a knife that was used to slit his wrist. His mouth was stuffed with raw chicken after he was killed. The expert asserts that this modus operandi (MO) is similar to that used by a local crime group, the Kattar Gang. As they drive back to the police station, Rita receives a call from Konkana, the woman running the shelter home for the girls. Konkana claims that the girls are refusing to eat until they're reunited with their mothers.
Rita goes to the shelter home and watches CCTV footage of a young girl talking to the girls. The girls ask Rita to send them back to see their mothers, who are all sex workers. They inquire about the mother of the girl who died. Later that day, Rita meets Sanjay, who informs her that she, as a woman, was going to be the youngest DCP. The next morning, as Rita gets ready for work, she recalls an incident from her childhood. She remembers telling her mother's colleague that she wants to be a singer like her father once she grows up.
Upon hearing this, Rita's mother becomes upset and grabs her wrist, causing her daughter to experience a painful injury. Present-day Rita looks at the scar from the incident and breaks into tears.
At the press conference, Sanjay introduces Rita as the DCP, alongside other female ACPs, to the media. A reporter asks Rita about her promotion and the safety of women. Anita Acharya, another reporter, questions Rita about the sex trafficking case and reveals the location of the victims. Rita reprimands Anita for her callousness and for putting the girls in danger.
The police arrest Doctor Peddler after reviewing CCTV footage showing him at the beach on the night of Manohar's murder. Indu informs Rita of this development, and Rita goes to the station where Doctor Peddler is being held.
At the rehab center, Sajid becomes paranoid after noticing a drop of blood on his shirt. Prabhat calls Anant, the person Sajid last spoke to, and hears a woman speaking on the other line. It turns out that Anant is actually Anita, the reporter from the press conference. Commissioner Sanjay introduces Anita, the niece of a cop, to Jatin.
Anita tries to call Sajid's phone, which is switched off. Meanwhile, Prabhat asks Sajid who Anant is. The episode ends with a flashback of Anita and Sajid at the beach on the night of Manohar's murder.
