Poonam (Amrita Rao) lost her parents, when she was very young. She was brought up by her uncle Krishna Kant (Alok Nath) and her aunt Rama (Seema Biswas). However, Rama is jealous of her niece and dislikes her, since Poonam is more beautiful than her own daughter Rajni (Amrita Prakash). Poonam grows up to be a soft-spoken, traditional and beautiful girl. Her only wish is to get a mother's love from her aunt Rama. Bhagat-ji (Manoj Joshi), a jeweller and a friend of Krishna Kant's, likes Poonam and her beautiful nature. He decides to match-make for her with Prem (Shahid Kapoor), son of Mr. Harishchandra (Anupam Kher). Mr. Harishchandra, a rich businessman, tells Prem about the proposed marriage. He believes Prem is of proper age to marry. Prem's brother, Sunil (Samir Soni), had also married Bhavna (Lata Sabharwal) at the same age. Prem, however, is hesitant to marry, since he feels himself to be very young and wants to focus on his career first. Harishchandra convinces Prem to meet Poonam before deciding anything. They visit Krishna Kant's family and let Prem and Poonam get acquainted with each other. Though their first conversation is awkward, Prem and Poonam agree to get married, as they are instantly attracted to each other. The marriage date is set after six months and the two families plan a short vacation at Krishna Kant's summer residence in Som Sarovar as an opportunity to know each other better. Poonam and Prem blissfully enjoy their time together at Som Sarovar. After several carefree days, Harishchandra and his family returns home to attend to its business, which leaves Poonam and Prem the choice to communicate via telephone, internet or letter. Despite the distance between them, they grow closer and Prem, before going on a business trip to Japan, calls her for support. Poonam tells him on the phone that she loves him. When Prem calls Poonam from the airport in Japan, he confesses his love for her as well. Soon after, Prem comes back from Japan and is pleasantly surprised to find Poonam with the rest of his family. She spends some time at his house and finally returns to her own family to prepare for the wedding. (l-r) Sunil, Bhavna, Rama, Krishna Kant, Rahul, Mr. Harishchandra, Prem and Bhagat-ji Both families get busy in preparing for the wedding. Rama becomes very irritated and angry with Krishna Kant for spending lavishly on Poonam's wedding, as she fears there will be no money left for Rajni's marriage. As a result, Rama acts colder than usual to Poonam and wants nothing to do with the wedding. This hurts Poonam. The night before the main wedding ceremony, a fire emerges at Krishna Kant's house. Though Poonam runs out of the house in time, she realizes that Rajni is still inside and goes back to save her. In this attempt, Poonam gets heavily burnt. She is immediately taken to the hospital, where the family is told that the burns on her body are extremely severe but luckily, her face is untouched. The fact that Poonam risked her own skin to save Rajni changes Rama's view about her. Prem and his family, occupied with their own wedding preparations, are informed of Poonam's accident and rush to the hospital. Poonam is now very unsure if Prem will marry her because she has been scarred and the marks will take months to fade away. The doctor (Mohnish Behl) informs the family that Poonam will take much time to recover. Harishchandra arranges for burn specialists to be flown in from Delhi for Poonam's operation. Prem is determined to marry Poonam and, when she tells him to take a look at her deep scars, he refuses, saying that his love does not deserve this test. He says that he will always love her no matter what and puts sindoor (vermilion) on her hairline, marking her as his wife. The operation is successful. Finally, Prem and Poonam get married, to begin their life together as husband and wife.