‘Ghayal Once Again’ opens with flashbacks of Ghayal. Angry young Ajay Mehra shoots and kills Balwant Rai (who had murdered Ajay's brother) and surrenders himself to upright cop Joe DSouza. Ajay is sentenced to prison. Upon his release, he begins a new career as a reporter for an independent newspaper. He doubles as a vigilante who assists the police with their hard-to-prosecute cases (including cases where the accused are prominent and influential members of society).
One such case involves small-town reporter Renu who was drugged and raped by her boss, the media baron Rajguru. Renu killed herself and Rajguru's men quashed the matter and implicated her innocent boyfriend. Ajay swings into action and abducts Rajguru and forcibly obtains a DNA swab. Rajguru is arrested. Ajay is a hero, a sensation. (It is revealed that Ajay still suffers panic and anxiety attacks from his painful memories of his past. His girlfriend Riya, a psychiatrist, helps him with his problems.) Joe DSouza has retired and is a social activist. Ajay often collaborates with him and helps him out.
Joe DSouza is killed in a traffic accident near Nanded. Young blogger Zoya Saigal is shocked to discover that Joe was, in fact, shot dead. She had accidentally captured the murder on video. Joe was shot by Kabir Raj Bansal, son of the tycoon Raj Bansal. Zoya and her young friends panic and want to take the video to the cops but Anushka's (Zoya's friend) grandfather infers that Raj Bansal had staged the road accident (where 8 other innocent people were killed) and stops them. Bansal is too powerful. It is further revealed that D'Souza had visited Raj Bansal and directly accused him of a land grab. Bansal tried to buy him off, there was an argument, and Kabir Raj Bansal, in a fit of rage, shot D'Souza. The accident was a cover-up. Bansal privately realizes that Kabir is still a bratty kid and decides to enrol him into a military school.
On her grandfather's advice, Anushka turns the video over to the lawyer Kriplani who quietly returns it to Bansal in order to ensure the children remain safe. But Kriplani's son, Rohan, a friend of Zoya, realizes that his father has given up the video and thus urges Zoya to reach Ajay Mehra. As the children hurry to reach Ajay they are intercepted by Bansal's goons. There is a chase. Ajay saves the children and recovers the video. Riya takes the children to the hospital where they are abducted by Bansal',s men.
It is revealed that Anushka is Ajay's own daughter. Kabir tortures the children until Bansal, tired of his son's tantrums, warns him away. Bansal holds Ajay's daughter and releases the other children. He tells Ajay that his daughter will henceforth stay with Bansal in order to ensure the safety of Kabir. Bansal's mother objects but Bansal, locked in moral conflict, waves her away. Bansal orders the Home Minister to arrest Ajay Mehra.
Ajay overcomes the cops and mounts an attack on the Bansal mansion to rescue his daughter. There is a fierce fight. Ajay rescues his own daughter as well as Bansal's daughter who gets trapped in the debris. Bansal capitulates and is arrested along with his son. The film ends as Ajay and his daughter recover in the hospital surrounded by their friends.