Raghunath, a wealthy district judge who believes that "good people are born to good people, and criminals are born to criminals", convicts Jagga, son of a criminal, of rape with thin evidence. Jagga later escapes and kidnaps the judge's wife, Leela, for revenge. When Jagga finds out that Leela has just become pregnant, he releases her after four days and changes his plan. However, people suspect Leela of adultery and Raghunath throws her out of their house, rejecting her pleas that the child is his.
Leela gives birth to Raj on the streets, and they both live in poverty. Raj befriends Rita in school. He is removed from the school rolls while trying to maintain a job as a shoeshiner, and Rita moves to another city. Jagga convinces Raj to steal in order to save his starving mother. Raj grows up into a skilled criminal, going in and out of jail, and works for Jagga's gang. Leela thinks that he is a businessman. Raj never forgets Rita, keeping her birthday picture at his home.
For a bank robbery, Jagga asks Raj to steal an automobile. He snatches a woman's purse when she steps out of the car but finds no keys. He pretends to pursue the thief in order to ward off any suspicion and returns the purse to the woman, who is charmed by his personality and apparent selflessness. Later, when Raj successfully steals a car, he hides from the police in a mansion where he meets the same woman. Seeing the same birthday picture, Raj realises that she is his school friend Rita. He tells Rita he's a thief, but his figurative statements make her think he is a finance professional. Rita, now studying law, is a ward of Raghunath, who is suspicious when he hears that Raj doesn't know who his father is. Raj and Rita fall in love. Worrying that Rita will not accept him due to his thievery, Raj starts working at a factory but is fired when the manager finds out that he was a thief.
Rita invites him to her birthday party. Raj goes back to Jagga for a loan so that he can buy a gift for her. Jagga mocks his attempts to reform and asks him to commit more crimes. Raj refuses but later steals a necklace from a man on the street, not knowing the man was Raghunath. At Rita's birthday, when Raj gives her a necklace without a case and Raghunath gives her a case without a necklace, she realises that Raj is indeed a thief. Rita goes to Raj's mother and learns his life story. She decides that Raj is not bad but was forced into committing crimes by bad influences and desperate surroundings. Raj is ashamed, still believing he is no good for her, but Rita forgives him.
Raj goes to Raghunath to ask if he can marry Rita, but the judge turns him away. Meanwhile, Jagga and the gang commit the bank robbery, but it goes wrong and they have to run from the police. Jagga hides in Raj's house, where Leela recognizes him and he attacks her. Raj enters and fights him off, killing Jagga in self-defense. Raj goes on trial for Jagga's death, with Raghunath as the judge. When Leela goes to the courthouse to provide her eyewitness account, she sees Raghunath and chases after him but is struck by a car. Rita collects the testimony from Leela in the hospital, and later Raj is allowed to visit her. Leela tells Raj that Raghunath is his father and asks her son to forgive him. Raj only becomes angry at Raghunath for making him and his mother suffer.
Raj escapes from jail and tries to kill Raghunath for revenge but is stopped by Rita. Rita defends Raj in the trial for assault, who reveals the father-son relationship. Raj chooses not to defend his actions and says that he is a bad man. He asks the court not to think of him, but the millions of other children who grow up in poverty and end up turning to crime because high society does not care about them. While he awaits his verdict, Raj is visited by Raghunath, who finally accepts that Raj is his son and tearfully asks for forgiveness. In the end, Raj is spared execution but sentenced to three years in prison for his crime. He promises that after getting released, he will reform himself for Rita, who promises to wait for him.
