Judge Kundan Lal Khanna and his wife Rajni Khanna are part of a well-to-do household proud of their college-going son, Ram Das Khanna. Also, part of the household is Shanta who is being raised by the Khannas after the untimely death of her parents who were friends of Rajni Khanna. Rajni’s hope is that Shanta will someday make a suitable wife for Ram Das.



As one learns early in the film, Kundan Lal’s father, Dharam Das Khanna, was an alcoholic and womanizer and is serving a life sentence after being accused of two murders. Understandably, Kundan Lal develops a strong dislike for alcoholism and womanizing and wants to make sure that his son Ram Das never follows the path of his grandfather.



Unknown to the Khanna family, Dharam Das is released from prison early for good behavior, and is hired by the family as a servant, where Dharam Das explores ways to amend the suffering he has caused the Khanna family.



When a case involving Rita Bakshi and a friend is bought up in a court where Kundan Lal is the judge, Rita’s friend is sentenced to death by Kundan Lal and a heavy financial penalty in imposed on Rita. The plot progresses showing how a bitter Rita gets Ram Das entangled in a web of alcohol and womanizing to seek her revenge on Kundan Lal and extort as much money as she can from him via his son Ram Lal. As much as Judge Kundan Lal had tried to keep his son from falling into the footsteps of his grandfather, he is clearly failing to do so.



Much of the rest of the film progresses with unraveling whether the stability offered by Shanta and the presence of Dharam Das in the Khanna household can undo the actions of a vengeful Rita on Ram Das and the rest of the family.