The biggest sporting event for the school town of Nainital is the annual cycling race. Schools and colleges here range from those like Rajput and Xavier's for the spoilt rich kids to local ones like Model for the poorer kids. For the past two years the cycling race has been won by the arrogant Shekhar Malhotra (Deepak Tijori) of Rajput College. Sanju (Aamir Khan) and Ratan (Mamik) are bothers who attend Model and run a small local cafe. Their father (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) is obsessed by the desire to see Ratan become the cycling champion. Ratan on his part is the ideal son and elder brother to Sanju, good in everything he does and has been the runner-up to Shekhar in the cycling race. Sunju on the other hand is a prankster, not taking life seriously at all enjoying life with his friends among whom is Anjali (Ayesha Jhulka) who loves him silently. Sanju however turns his attention on the new girl on the block...

Don Birnam, long-time alcoholic, has been "on the wagon" for ten days and seems to be over the worst; but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother Wick and girlfriend Helen, he begins a four-day bender. In flashbacks we see past events, all gone wrong because of the bottle. But this bout looks like being his last...one way or the other.

Travellers on a trans-European train are delayed for a night due to bad weather in a small fictional country called Mandrika. The passengers cram into the small village hotel where socialite Iris Henderson meets an old governess called Miss Froy. Shortly after the journey restarts, Miss Froy disappears.

The story concentrates on the social re-adjustment of three World War II servicemen, each from a different station of society. Al Stephenson returns to an influential banking position, but finds it hard to reconcile his loyalties to ex-servicemen with new commercial realities. Fred Derry is an ordinary working man who finds it difficult to hold down a job or pick up the threads of his marriage. Having had both hands burnt off during the war, Homer Parrish is unsure that his fiancée's feelings are still those of love and not those of pity. Each of the veterans faces a crisis upon his arrival, and each crisis is a microcosm of the experiences of many American warriors who found an alien world awaiting them when they came marching home.

"Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself?