Rajaram P. Joshi (Naseeruddin Shah) is a middle-class Clerk living in a chawl in Bombay. He is secretly in love with his neighbor, Sandhya Karnik (Deepti Naval) but is unable to disclose his love for her. Rajaram's fast-tallking friend, Bashudev (Farooq Shaikh) comes for a visit and makes himself at home. Bashudev starts wooing Sandhya and soon both in love with each other. The Karniks decide to marry Sandhya and Bashudev, much to misery of Rajaram. But on the day of the engagement, Bashudev disappears, and the engagement is called-off. Rajaram offers to marry the devastated Sandhya, but she tells him that she has been very intimate with Bashudev, and is pregnant, and it remains to be seen if Rajaram will accept Sandhya or otherwise.