Poonam Mishra (Amrita Rao) is a middle-class girl who lives in the small town of Madhupur. After the death of her parents, while very young, her uncle Krishnakant (Alok Nath) fulfilled the void of a father in her life. However, her aunt Rama (Seema Biswas) is jealous and unable to accept Poonam as her child, driven by the fact that her daughter Rajni (Amrita Prakash) is dark in complexion and less beautiful than Poonam. Harishchandra (Anupam Kher), a renowned businessman from New Delhi, has two sons: Sunil (Samir Soni) who has married Bhavna (Lata Sabharwal), and Prem Bajapaye (Shahid Kapoor), who is a soft-spoken and well-educated person.