Unhappy with India's independence from the British, Raja Shamsher Singh (Anupam Kher) and his goons, initially attempt to put their candidate, Shishupal (Satish Shah), up for elections. But when opposed by Sangram Singh (Manoj Kumar), they have him killed, and blame Pratap Singh (Suresh Oberoi).
Sangram's wife, Bharati (Hema Malini), rebels, becomes a bandit, and sends her son, Shakti (Rajiv Goswami), to Bombay so that he can study and return back to Ramgarh to oppose the tyrannical Shamsher, and have Pratap killed. Years later Shakti does return back but Bharati does not know that he has an hidden agenda - which does not include seeking vengeance from Pratap or Shamsher.