In the hills of Dehradun, Shekhar Malhotra of Rajput School narrowly defeats Ratanlal Sharma of Model College in the main event marathon cycle race at the annual inter-school sports meet. Ratan vows to compete again, and his father Ramlal, an ex-champion himself, promises to save up and buy him an expensive new cycle to match Shekhar's.
Ramlal gives money to Ratan to put away, which he passes to his younger brother, Sanjay. Unlike Ratan, Sanjay is carefree and irresponsible. He comes across Devika, a new girl at Queen's College, who feels wronged by Shekhar. He uses her to get back at Shekhar, then impresses her with lies that he belongs to a rich family. Devika ends up falling for Sanjay and they start going out. Sanjay gets expensive gifts for her from the money he is supposed to put away for Ratan's new cycle.
At the inter-school dance competition, Sanjay's secret is revealed when Devika sees him participate with the group from the low class Model College. She dumps him the next day, and Sanjay lashes out at Shekhar's friends after they insult him. Ratan intervenes and fends them off, only to be confronted the next morning by Shekhar's group again, when he is out training alone. He is hit on the head by a stick and falls off the cliff. At the hospital, Ratan enters a coma but eventually awakens. Though he will recover, he is ruled out from competing in the next cycle race.
Sanjay resolves to compete in Ratan's stead. He is helped by his tomboyish best friend, Anjali, who secretly has a crush on him. Seeing her devotion to him, Sanjay reciprocates as well. During the race, Shekhar and Sanjay fall off course and get into a fight, with various other Rajput students joining in. Sanjay escapes. They rejoin at the back of the field, and overtake the other cyclists to lead in the final laps. Sanjay is on Shekhar's tail trying to get past. In the final moments, he edges Shekhar to win the race at the finish line.
Model is overjoyed to celebrate their first victory in years. Ramlal is happy to see Sanjay come of age, while Ratan feels vindicated at Sanjay's victory over Shekhar.