1951. In newly independent India, passionate literature student Lata Mehra is looking towards the future. Her mother Rupa has successfully arranged the marriage of her eldest daughter Savita to Pran Kapoor, a university lecturer. Now Rupa has her sights set on her spirited younger daughter, but Lata wants to make her own way in the world. She isn't interested in romance. But her resolve is challenged when she starts to fall for a mysterious fellow student, Kabir Durrani.

Lata continues to pursue a romantic relationship with Kabir Durrani, though she knows her mother would disapprove of the match. When news reaches Rupa that Lata has been seen with an unsuitable boy, she is furious and takes action to keep the young lovers apart. Removed to Calcutta, Lata's spirits are low until she attends a party hosted by the sophisticated and eccentric Chatterji family. Meanwhile, Saeeda Bai and Maan's affair continues, becoming a source of gossip that threatens them both. As Maan's father rounds on him under growing political pressure, Saeeda Bai takes decisive action of her own.

Concerned by Lata's growing friendship with poet Amit Chatterji, Rupa enlists the help of a friend to find her headstrong daughter a husband. When she meets enthusiastic shoemaker Haresh Khanna, Rupa is immediately charmed, but Lata is not so easily convinced. Banished to the countryside with his Urdu tutor, Maan is preoccupied by thoughts of Saeeda Bai. But as his eyes are opened to the hardships of rural life, he becomes an unlikely warrior for social justice.

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The general election is approaching. While Kabir Durrani remains desperate to make amends, Lata finds herself courted by Amit and Haresh in Calcutta. Romantic gestures from both suitors over the Christmas holidays compound Lata's confusion about her feelings for all her admirers. Maan is once again separated from Saeeda Bai when he accompanies his father on the campaign trail to the Nawab's village seat in Rudhia. Their relationship is improving at last, but Maan's lingering passion for Saeeda Bai threatens to destroy everything.

Maan's disgrace has a disastrous effect on the Kapoor family. When the bad press is used against his father in India's first general election campaign, it results in an unexpected gesture from an old friend. Lata is left hurt and confused by Haresh's overreaction. When a surprise meeting between two of her love rivals ends in a sudden proposal, it leaves Lata looking at the nature of love with fresh eyes. Following the revelation of further interference from her meddling family and emboldened by casting her vote in India's first national democratic election, Lata makes a decision about her future.