The film begins, in classic Yash Chopra fashion, with a poem recital, set against beautiful scenes of the Swiss mountainside. The poem, narrated by director Yash Chopra, serves as a prologue, and comments on love, life, the passing of time, and the memories we collect over our lifetime. Then a young man appears and begins to sing (Kyon Hawa) about the dream-like atmosphere in which he finds himself, and the girl whom he can hear singing but is out of his sight. Just as he sees the girl and runs to her, a large noise booms out... and we see that it was in fact a dream from an old man, an ageing prisoner in a present-day Lahore jail.
At a Muslim graveyard, Saamiya Siddiqui, a young female lawyer, prays at the grave of her father, and asks him to bless her, as she is about to undertake on her first case: Rajesh Rathore, an Indian spy who has spent 22 years in prison, and hasnt spoken to anyone in all that time. A chauvinistic jailor takes her to Rathores cell, where she attempts to get him to talk. At one point, she gets a reaction from him when she mentions the name of Veer Pratap Singh (which she found in Rathores file), but her pleas and entreaties fail to get a word out of him. However, just as she is about to give up, a jet passes by, and finally the prisoner begins to speak: Veer Pratap Singh was his real name, and he was a rescue pilot in the Indian Air Force...
In Lahore, 1982, a vivacious young girl named Zaara Hayaat Khan (introduced in the song "Hum To Bhai Jaise Hain") learns that Bebe, her beloved governess who has looked after her since she was a child, is dying. She rushes to Bebes side. Before dying, Bebe asks Zaara for a last request: being a Punjabi, she wants her ashes to be taken to the holy Sikh city of Kiritpur, India, and have them immersed in the nearby river, among her ancestors. Zaara decides to carry out Bebes wish and leaves for India via bus (without telling anyone at home and consequently creating uproar). Unfortunately, the bus overturns, and so Veer arrives by helicopter to hoist the passengers to safety. As Veer lifts Zaara, she drops a satchel she was carrying. The satchel contains Bebes ashes and so Zaara starts screaming and thrashing around until Veer goes back and recovers it for her. He later severely reprimands Zaara for making such a fuss about losing her bag when other passengers have lost so much more, and calls her behaviour disgusting.
Later, Zaara approaches Veer and explains everything to him, finally apologizing for her conduct. Veer accepts her apology, and befriends her, taking her to Kiritpur (and gives her a tour of Punjab as well, through the song Aisa Des Hai Mera). They soon arrive at Kiritpur, and though Veer asks Zaara to keep her Islamic religion a secret, she reveals it to the guru and is accepted. As she is about to immerse Bebes ashes in the river, she calls Veer and asks him to join her; since it was with his help that she could get this far, these last rites should be carried out by both of them.
Her promise to Bebe fulfilled, Zaara prepares to leave for home. Its Veers turn to ask a request: he wants her to come to his village and spend a day there with his family. After some hesitation, she agrees. She meets Veers aunt and uncle, who have looked after Veer ever since his parents died and left him an orphan. Chaudhury Sumer Singh and Saraswati Gauri Singh nearly bash up Veer when he arrives with a foreign girl, but calm down when he introduces her to them. That night, the Pratap Singh family and Zaara participate in the Lodi celebrations (Lodi).
The next morning, Veer and Zaara arrive at the train station, and are met by Raaza Shirazi, a politician who is also Zaaras fiancé. Now with nothing to lose, Veer sadly confesses to Zaara that he has fallen in love with her, leaving her speechless. Veer then watches sadly as Raaza and Zaara board the train going back to Pakistan. Both believe that this is the end of their story, and the last time they will ever see each other (Do Pal). At this point the jailor shoos Saamiya out of the cell; her visiting time is over.
Saamiya returns the next day, and provides Veer with food from her home. Veer comments that the food brings back memories of his meals back in India. He then continues with his tale: Zaaras marriage to Raaza is only a political affair, orchestrated by Zaaras father Jahangir Hayaat Khan, also a politician. Sometime after her arrival home, Zaara confides in her mother, Mariam Hayaat Khan, and her best friend, the household maid Shabbo, that shes fallen in love with Veer and cannot go through with this marriage. Although her parents finally convince her to go ahead with the marriage, she is pushed to breaking point when she keeps seeing Veer wherever she casts her eyes (Main Yahaan Hoon). Seeing her distraught condition, Shabbo calls up Veer in India and begs him to come over to Pakistan for Zaaras sake.
With Shabbos help, Veer arrives in Lahore. When the Hayaat Khan family and Raaza go to a mosque for their prayer, he meets Zaara and their love is exposed to all present, resulting in Jahangir having a heart attack (Aaya Tere Dar Par). Later, Mariam meets Veer and entreats him to leave Zaara. The Hayaat Khan familys reputation will be ruined if news got out that his daughter is in love with a Hindu man. Moved by her pleas, Veer decides to leave, despite tearful protests from Zaara (Do Pal) . But Raaza, outraged by the shame Zaara has brought upon him, frames Veer and has him wrongly imprisoned for being an Indian spy (Aaya Tere Dar Par). Veer concludes his tale by mentioning there was an accident on the Amritsar-Lahore bus route: a bus turned over and all the passengers were killed, which provided a means to totally erase Veer Pratap Singh from existence.
Touched by this tale, Saamiya promises to Veer that she will do all she can in court to see that he goes free. Before the trial begins, Veer secures a promise from Saamiya that she can do anything for the case except mention Zaara's family. The trial does not go well in Saamiyas favour, despite all her efforts (and a surprise defense from the Jailor, who supports Veer as a human being ). Later, Saamiya rails at Veer for making her give that promise to him. Using the Hayaat Khan name, they could at least secure a few days delay, but now her career will come to an end, and he will most probably be killed. Veer points out to her that the court wont care about Veer, or Zaara or anything about their love story.
As a last resort, Saamiya travels to India to find someone who knew and could recognize Veer Pratap Singh. The only ones who could possibly do that were his aunt and uncle, but theyve been dead for ages. Then, to her amazement, she discovers Zaara and Shabbo running a girls school. Saamiya learns that Zaaras marriage had fallen apart, but when she came to India with Shabbo she learnt Veer was dead. Heartbroken, she had remained in India to run the school in memory of Veer, Shabbo staying with her as well. Saamiya quickly takes Zaara back to Pakistan, and Veer and Zaara reunite after 22 years (Tere Liye). With Zaaras testimony, Veer is acquitted and Saamiya wins her first case. At the Indo-Pakistan border, Veer marries Zaara and, bidding Saamiya farewell, the two of them return to India.
The closing credits feature, as an epilogue, scenes of Veer and Zaaras lives in Punjab: Veer takes his wife around on a bicycle; Veer in the midst of a hockey game; and the two of them enjoying a meal together...
