The story starts from an Indian village. A heartless Zamindar (or landlord) called Badebabu exploits his farmers' vulnerability by forcing them to sell their small pieces of land. There is also a very noble, kind lady whom the villagers refer to as Zamindari Ma (Durga Khote).br She takes under her wing many orphaned children, and adopts three of them - a Muslim, a Christian, and a low-caste girl - as her own. So, Shankar (Dev Anand), who is a likeness of his noble parents, now has siblings Yusuf, John, and Durga. Meanwhile, Badebabu's son, Chhotebabu (Ramsing) also a crook, like his father, has come back to the village as a lawyer, and goes around throwing his weight. Both father and son intend to fix the latter's marriage with Vidya (Kamala Kotnis), the daughter of their family friend from town, Shyamacharan. On an outing, Vidya witnesses Chhotebabu's haughty behavior, and is not impressed. She instantly falls in love with the upright Shankar who puts his foot down at Chhotebabu's domineering ways. Shankar reciprocates Vidya's feelings. Yusuf and John also find their ladyloves - Nargis (Rehana) and Dolly, respectively, and both the alliances are fixed. When Shankar leaves for town with his new wife to visit his ailing father-in-law, Chhotebabu visits John at the clinic and tells him that the place is too run-down for practice and that he needs to build a bigger hospital. Shankar sends the money, and construction begins, and so does the engineer's menacing demands for more and more money. John hesitates to ask Shankar again for money, but Chhotebabu assures him that he will visit Shankar in town and get the funds. Meanwhile, the crop yields poor that year, and the farmers under Zamindari Ma are unable to pay 'lagaan' or taxes. Shankar immediately returns to the village and tells the engineers to stop the work. John objects, but Shankar tells him that he will explain it all to him at home. Watch full movie, to know what happens next.