Maya, coming from poor family, is married to the affluent Dr. Anand; but she tries to commit suicide on the nuptial night. She tells Anand that she was in love with Prem whose ambition was to be a music director. He too was in love with her but thought she would not be happy as his wife. Anand tells Maya that he had married her only for his mother who was on her death bed. When the mother dies Anand wants to unite Prem and Maya but Prem says it is against Hindu culture and disappears from their life.

In the days leading up to Partition, a Hindu woman is abducted by a Muslim man. Soon, she finds herself not only forced into marriage, but living in a new country as the borders between India and Pakistan are drawn

Coming from a poor and destitute family, Urvashi is encouraged by her mother, Shanta (Sualbha Deshpande) to be on more than friendly terms with a much older male, Keshav Dalvi (Amol Palekar). Keshav takes a liking to young Urvashi, and encourages her to explore her talents in films, which she does, and does gain popularity, starting as a singer, than accomplishing herself as an actress/singer. She decides to marry Keshav, only to be discouraged by her own mother, but she is strong-willed, and does marry him. She has a baby girl after the marriage, but feels stifled and oppressed with Keshav, and has affairs with her co-star Rajan (Anant Nag), a film producer, Sunil Verma (Naseeruddin Shah), but ends up dissatisfied. Then she meets wealthy Vinayak Kale (Amrish Puri), and decides to settle down with him, little knowing that he is already married to another woman, and also has a son. By the time she finds out it is too late, she has already been accepted in his household, and any woman, whether his own mother(Dina Pathak), his present handicapped wife, and even Urvashi have to follow the rules laid down - no women can leave the house under any circumstances, except after death.

Kishorilal wants an Indian bride for his westernised son. He gets him engaged to Ganga, his friend's daughter, and brings her to USA. But she shares a deeper bond with Arjun, Kishorilal's foster son.

A man's simple lie to secure his job escalates into more complex lies when his orthodox boss becomes suspicious.