 In a small village of Champaner in North India in 1890s is a community of poor and innocent farmers who are happy ploughing, sowing, praying for the rains and reaping their harvest. Part of this community are Bhuvan (Aamir) a young farmer and Gauri (Gracie Singh), his love. A spate of adversities strike them with the entry of a brute-like British army captain who challenges the locals to a cricket match. A dastardly character, he is planning, in the sly, to burden the villagers with a land tax (Lagaan). One of the conditions of the game is that the loser will pay the state the land tax. The captain knows that the villagers are ignorant of the game and its rules and therefore be beating retreat against his trained players. Although poor, the villagers are people of self-respect. Led by Bhuvan they are ready to take on the Britons despite their ignorance of the game. Now comes to their rescue the army captain s younger sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley). Firstly Elizabeth helps the rustic lads purely out of sympathy for them but later she grows affection for Bhuvan. But Bhuvan is fixated on one thing. With grit and determination he and villagers stand together against the ruthlessness of their perpetrators. Faith and courage comes face to face with arrogance and ruthlessness and what follows is spectacular climax of showdown between Indians and Britons.