Hope & A Little Sugar is set in New York in the weeks before and after 9/11, this poignant tale of love set against the forces of hate and intolerance centers on the romance between an aspiring Muslim photographer and a young Sikh woman.
Bike messenger, Ali Siddiqui (Amit Sial) meets the beautiful but married Saloni (Mahima Chaudhry) a charismatic mithaai shop owner who encourages Ali's photography and becomes his muse. Despite Ali's secret and largely unrequited crush on Saloni, he develops a close friendship with her and her husband Harry (Vikram Chatwal).
But when tragedy strikes with the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001, her father-in-law, a retired army Colonel (Anupam Kher), devastated by grief and anger, directs his longstanding animosity towards Muslims at Ali, as the young man's affection for Saloni grows increasingly evident. Although the Colonel's wife (Suhashni Mulay) bravely tries to pacify her husband, the Colonel, unable to accept life's pain, threatens to bring everything to a violent end.