In Lucknow, widower Nawab Mirza Sultan, D.K. Sapru, lives with his daughter Zeenat Jahan Begum, Meena Kumari, in an old mansion that masks their dwindling wealth. They pretend to be rich, renting out part of the house, and Zeenat yearns for luxuries beyond their means, visiting a local jewelry shop to try on jewels as if she could buy them.
There, a wealthy man, Nawab Sikandar Mirza, Ashok Kumar, notices her and falls for her. Meanwhile Zeenat is in love with Yusuf, Pradeep Kumar, and the pair meet at a nearby Sufi shrine every Friday.
In a twist, Yusuf’s uncle cunningly arranges Zeenat’s marriage to Sikandar Mirza, though she believes the match is with Yusuf. On the wedding day, she goes to the shrine dressed as a bride, hoping to meet Yusuf, but he is out of town and does not appear. Zeenat faints, and the ceremony proceeds with the bride missing, as tradition holds the bride’s silence in the carriage behind curtains equaling consent. Back at Sikandar Mirza’s haveli, the doli arrives empty, and Sikandar and his sister Suraiya, Kumari Naaz, hide the truth, claiming Zeenat is ill so no one questions the situation.
Zeenat wakes up at the shrine past midnight and returns home, only to be harshly rebuked by her father and told to leave. She seeks shelter at Yusuf’s house, but learns from his maternal uncle that Yusuf does not love her and has relocated to Allahabad for a few months. She then goes to her in-laws’ but cannot speak freely with her “husband,” who is angry and distracted. Devastated, she flees to a nearby dargah, but trips and faints in front of a horse-drawn carriage, saved by the courtesan Nazeeran Bai, Helen, who has just returned from her late-night function.
Her misfortune leads her to a kotha (brothel). Meanwhile, her father and supposed husband keep up appearances to protect their honor. Destiny, however, brings her to Sikandar Mirza’s residence, where she is sent to sit as a temporary wife to facilitate Suraiya’s marriage. When Zeenat arrives, Sikandar Mirza and Suraiya are relieved to meet the real Bahu Begum, veiled from the male relatives. Yet Zeenat explains that the Nikah was not properly executed and she was not present or consenting, so she is not his wife under the law and their religion. Nevertheless, she vows to remain the Bahu Begum, choosing to safeguard the family’s honor above her own happiness.
Nawab Sikandar Mirza, depicted as a generous and considerate man, accepts this arrangement, and Suraiya is married off under Zeenat’s care. The drama intensifies when Yusuf returns and discovers he has fallen victim to his maternal uncle’s scheme. Hurt by the deception, he confronts Zeenat and asks her to forget him for the sake of Sikander’s honor. Their exchange is overheard by Sikander, who then sets his mansion aflame, dying in the fire and making it appear that Zeenat perished as well, an act meant to unite the lovers and allow them to live openly, away from the world’s judgment.
