Sonata is the psychological exploration of three unmarried women namely Aruna Chaturvedi (Professor), Dolon Sen (Banker) and Subhadra Parekh (journalist) played by Aparna Sen, Shabana Azmi and Lillete Dubey respectively. Set in the recent contemporary past, it is about three friends, their lives, ups and downs, the men in their lives and a twist in the tale. It is a subtle, cosmopolitan, contemporary, film on women and the uncertainties of life, based in an urban scape.