Lata is enjoying her time in Calcutta with sophisticated Amit Chatterji, but her mother summons her to Lucknow to meet Haresh Khanna, a kind-hearted shoemaker who takes Lata on a disastrous date around a tannery. Banished to the countryside with his tutor, Maan is preoccupied by thoughts of Saeeda Bai. But as his eyes are opened to the hardships of rural life, he becomes an unlikely warrior for social justice. Meanwhile, at home in Brahmpur, Mahesh Kapoor wins a political victory as the banks of the Ganges teem with pilgrims for a great festival: the Pul Mela.