The film is set in Bhatinda, with its thermal power plants and factories always in the background and is based on the true story of this city and its people. The daughter of an ex-Army man (Naseeruddin Shah) discovers that she has a serious life-threatening illness. Gradually they piece together the reason for this and discover that it is due to the carcinogenic elements that have entered the groundwater. Everyone in the city is affected by it.A journalist meanwhile has discovered files that will incriminate the people responsible for this groundwater poisoning, but he is kidnapped and missing. His girlfriend (Sagarika Ghatge), who is also a journalist pursues the case, trying to convince the authorities to arrest the people responsible.
A mysterious bomb blast in Paddy Sharma(Sharad Kelkar's) factory prompts the state CM, RamandeepBraitch(Divya Dutta) to hire an NIA officer, Arjun Mishra(Arshad Warsi). He meets an ex-army man, ParabjeetWalia(Naseeruddin Shah) seeking revenge for his dead daughter, Riya Walia(RumanaMolla) and a journalist, Maya Singh(Sagarika Ghatge) demanding justice for her slain boyfriend, AnirudhDutt (Nikhil Pandey) who had some serious evidence with him against Paddy Sharma. He himself tries to balance his knowledge of the truth, his wish for a more stable posting (having just come from a Naxal region), a better family life and his conscience.
When Mishra comes to investigate he finds that the administration is at fault. He turns rogue and instead of siding with the government, he joins hands with Walia to find out what really happened. Maya parks herself outside the factory at nights and captures the reverse boring and the dumping of hazardous stuff into the waters on her Handycam.She takes the evidence to Mishra. In the meantimeWalia who is heartbroken that his daughter Riya died due to cancer caused by the chemicals in the water vows to bring the system down.Walia who is also a writer goes to social dos and embarrasses Paddy Sharma with his remarks. He also causes a stir in the life of the CM. However, no one realises that he can go even deeper and cause harm. Except for Mishra.
In the meanwhile, every home in Bhatinda has a cancer patient. and there is a cancer train that is run between Bhatinda and Lalgarh so that the patients can seek treatment. on the one hand, the administration shows sympathy to the patients and pretends to offer them treatment. On the other hand, they are tied up with the pharmaceutical company for profits and allow them to dump their chemical waste in the town's reservoirs.