 Lalita (Madhuri Dixit) is married under duress from her maternal uncle, Madhi (Tej Sapru) to a cruel and possessive man, JB (Raj Babbar). He loves Lalita, but keeps her like a bird in a cage, hovering over and dominating her. Lalita runs away and enters the lives of Raj (Rishi Kapoor), his grandfather (Kader Khan), and Kaki (Dina Pathak). In order to hide her identity, she calls herself Shikha. Eventually, the family grow fond of Shikha, and Raj and she also fall in love. Raj s grandfather plans to marry Shikha off to Raj, when JB shows up and tells the family about the real identity of Shikha, and of her marital status, which Madhi quickly collaborates. The family is shocked to find out that Shikha has been lying to them. JB takes Lalita with him, and Lalita agrees to be his dutiful wife for ever. But will Raj forget his Shikha? And did Lalita really mean when she said she would be a dutiful wife to JB?