Nahar Singh's (Amrish Puri) fore-fathers and he have sworn to protect the family and heirs of powerful underworld don, Jodhabhai and his heirs for generations. Nahar would like his son, Ishaan (Ajay Devgan) to continue this tradition, to which he is willing as he friendly with Jodhabhai's son, Sunny (Rahul Bose). Ishaan's vow begins to falter when he falls in love with Suman Dev (Tabu). Things gets even more complicated when Suman comes forward to testify that she witnessed Sunny's car being driven from the scene of a multiple homicide. Sunny finds this out and asks Ishaan to chose between him and Suman, and Ishaan choses Suman. Things escalate out of control when Nahar is killed; and Ishaan becomes a prime suspect in the multiple-family homicide.

A retired professor, Lagoo, suddenly disappears one day. His family is worried especially when he doesn’t return after months, and then years. His wife, children and friends, then try to remember him through reconstructed memory, providing the film’s flashback structure. Some critics saw this as Mrinal Sen’s most personal film. As Sen said: “Life didn’t stop even for a moment. It carried on. But his family – his wife, his children – keep looking back, into the past. Each constantly reconstructs the man in their own minds, aided by fragments of memory. That man and I, that man and you, that man and the rest of us…one among many. “…Believe me, irrespective of who you are and how talented you may be, you are possessed of mediocrity. The minute you are conscious of this within you, your ‘crisis’ deepens. This is the thought that prompted the film. And perhaps the greatest tragedy in man’s life is that he has only that one life.” Winner Best Supporting Actress, President’s Award, India, 1989

After a long exile, Rahul returns to his village in the Himalayas. It causes commotion amongst the villagers, who have never forgiven him for his sins in the past.