Badrinath "Badri" Bansal (Varun Dhawan) is the younger son of a wealthy family. Badri's older brother, Alok (Yash Sinha) was in love with a girl and was going to leave the family for her (because their father disapproved), but decided against it after their father's first heart attack. Now Alok is married to Urmila (Shweta Basu Prasad) by an arranged marriage set by his father and she is not allowed to work despite clearly being very intelligent and professionally trained, even more so than Alok himself. Alok is also clearly depressed at having to leave his love and be forced into a marriage, so spends a lot of time drinking by himself on the rooftop.
Badri fears the same fate for himself so when he sees Vaidehi Trivedi (Alia Bhatt) at a wedding, he becomes obsessed with her and makes it his mission to marry her whilst also getting his father's approval. Vaidehi is also clearly more intelligent than Badri. She has a full education and is secretly training to become a flight attendant while Badri never passed the tenth grade. She's initially uninterested in getting married and is even offended by his marriage offer. But when Badri helps Vaidehi's older sister find a husband and even resolves a dowry crisis, Vaidehi agrees to marry him.
On their wedding day, however, Vaidehi never shows. Badri is heartbroken and his father is furious. He commands Badri to find Vaidehi and bring her back so that they can "hang her from the ceiling." Despite being afraid of his father's words, Badri goes to Mumbai to find Vaidehi, where he discovers that she's already moved to Singapore for a flight attendant training program with Silk Airlines. Badri shows up on Vaidehi's doorstep in Singapore and kidnaps her by putting her in the trunk of his car and driving off. On the way, however, he pulls over and let's her out of the trunk and they have an argument on the side of the road. Badri is furious at Vaidehi for leaving him at the altar and she apologizes, trying to assure him that the reason she left was not because of him. Badri grabs her by the throat when a police car pulls up on the side and takes them to the police station.
At the police station, Vaidehi covers for Badri despite him having kidnapped her and attempted to choke her. Over the next few days, Badri stalks Vaidehi. When his father calls, Badri lies and tells him that he didn't find Vaidehi and his father tells him that he's started looking for other brides. This terrifies Badri and he attempts entry into Vaidehi's workplace. She stops him and tells him she'll marry him only if he can convince his father to let her work and live in Singapore. This shuts him up.
Badri gets drunk that night and causes a scene outside Vaidehi's residential building and they have to go to the police again, where this time Vaidehi has to pay $1500 to bail him out and also accept full responsibility for him before he is officially given his passport in 3 days. Badri moves into Vaidehi's apartment where she cares for him by cooking for him before leaving for work every day, which humbles him. They spend time together with friends and tour Singapore together.
Over time Badri begins to respect Vaidehi's independence and grows impressed by her job and intelligence. He also remembers his sister in law and feels sorry that she doesn't get to work. When Badri is finally deported, Vaidehi comes to miss him and becomes depressed by his absence. Back in Jhansi, Badri's sister-in-law is pregnant and the father holds a mega-pooja to ensure a boy is born. Badri feels sorry for his sister in law and finally understands why Vaidehi ran away. Before the pooja, he gets severely drunk and berates his father for being disrespectful to women. He blames his father for being the reason that he can't have Vaidehi when suddenly he sees Vaidehi from the corner of his eye.
She tells him that she loves him and wants to marry him. Together they stand up to his dad and tell him that they will get married and Vaidehi will work as she pleases regardless of whether he agrees or not. In the epilogue, it is shown that Badri and Vaidehi maintain a long distance relationship while she finishes her training program in Singapore before moving back to India and starting her own flight attendant training center. Badri's sister in law gives birth to twins, one boy and girl, and it is shown that insofar his father has been treating both of them equally. She also starts working in the family's car showroom with Alok and even gets her own office. Badri and Vaidehi promise not to collect any dowry for any of their future children. The movie ends with Badri narrating a happy family story where everyone lives happily ever after.