Alisha (Deepika Padukone), a 30-year-old yoga instructor, is working on an app and is struggling to find investors (as her app is buggy and stalls in the middle of the demo. she has already invested Rs 8 Lakhs on the app) while providing for her unemployed writer boyfriend, Karan (Dhairya Karwa) with whom she feels suffocated (Karan won't allow Alisha to read the draft he has written so far). She also suffers from anxiety after dealing with her mother's suicide as a child and is estranged from her father Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah).Alisha's paternal cousin, Tia (Ananya Panday), is newly engaged to Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and invites the couple to their Alibaug beach house. Zain is rich. Zain and Alisha quickly bond due to their traumatic past and begin to flirt with each other. After the trip Alisha kisses him (Zain had come to Alisha for a session with her to fix his back pain), regretting it after. Alisha learns that Karan has allowed Tia to read his draft and feels hurt as she had been asking to read his draft for a long time. She allows Zain back in and they begin a sexual affair.Tia's father has recently died, and she plans to return to LA to sort out an issue with his will after her vacation with Zain. Alisha, Tia and Karan grew up together. Alisha was mostly in India, while Tia and Karan studied in US. Tia and Alisha's dads were business partners, but suddenly parted ways. Shortly after that, Alisha's mom committed suicide. Zain was an assistant to Tia's dad, and he elevated Zain after he started dating Tia. So, in a way, Zain's success was due to Tia and her dad.Zain gets his business to invest in Alisha's app. He reveals to Alisha that his father was violent toward him and his mother, which encouraged his move to America. During Alisha's birthday party, Karan proposes to her, and she accepts (Tia had mentioned that her father had invested in Zain's project, and hence technically she was his sleeping partner). She decides to end things with Zain (returns his money) to focus on her new life. After finding out Karan failed to tell her that his book has been rejected, Alisha ends their engagement.Alisha visits her dad Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) in Nashik and tells her she ended the engagement as she didn't want to end up like her mother, who felt suffocated in her life with Him. Vinod is offended and asks if her mother ever blamed him. Zain tells her he will end things with Tia after he returns Tia's investment, and they continue their affair. Zain's company again invests in Alisha's app and provides her with a new yoga studio.At Zain and Tia's anniversary party, Alisha reveals to Zain that she is pregnant. Zain's company is placed under investigation when one of his investors Banker Bejoy Sen (Vihaan Chaudhary) is caught for money laundering. After Tia finds Alisha's anxiety pills in Zain's jacket, he appeases her by saying he is stressed from work. Zain continues to tell Alisha that he plans to return Tia's money and he is committed to Alisha. Tia offers to help Zain by mortgaging the Alibaug house. Due to the stress Zain has to focus on saving his company and neglects Alisha, which makes her angry and isolated. Alisha's yoga studio is sealed by officers, and she confronts Zain. Zain's business partner Jitesh (Rajat Kapoor) deduces the truth about Zain and Alisha, when Alisha storms into Zain's office and demands to know what is going on. Zain comes under more pressure when one of the other investors triggers a breach of contract clause and demands his money back in 2 weeks. Jitesh thinks that Alisha is trying to blackmail Zain and offers to "handle" her. But Zain asks Jitesh to stay away.Tia agrees to mortgage the Alibaug Beach House to save the company, but Zain sells it instead (as mortgage won't be enough to save the firm), convinced he can buy it back in a year. At Alibaug, Tia accuses him of having an affair and asks to see his phone. When he shows her, she feels guilty (as Zain had saved Alisha's number as Jitesh new and Tia could guess that) and signs the papers. Karan runs into Alisha and tells Alisha that Tia is helping Zain with his company financially and both are in Alibaug. An angry Alisha gives Zain an ultimatum to reveal the truth to Tia or she will.Zain calls Alisha to his yacht and lies that he ended things with Tia. Alisha sees him mixing pills in her drink. Horrified, she tells Zain she wants to get back to land. Zain sees Tia's incoming call on Alisha's phone and asks her to decline; when she refuses, he attempts to push her overboard but slips and drowns to sea and dies. A frightened Alisha rushes back home, where she has a miscarriage.Tia calls the police, and they find Zain's body. Jitesh who knew about Zain's plan threatens Alisha to get him the signed papers (which were in Tia's closet in her handbag) or he will tell everyone the truth (Alisha will go to jail and as a partner in the firm Tia will be charged with fraud and will be embroiled in a long legal battle). Alisha does so and Jitesh covers up Zain's death as a suicide.Tia reveals to Alisha that her father Mr. Khanna (Anup Sharma) had an affair with Alisha's mother Sonali (Pavleen Gujral) and has left the Alibaug Beach House in Alisha's name (as she was his daughter). Depressed, Alisha attempts to commit suicide but is interrupted by her father. In not wanting to feel suffocated like her mother, Alisha realizes she has ended up exactly like her. She questions why he never told her the truth about her mother, but he says he did not want her mother's life to be defined by one mistake.Two years later, Alisha now has a better relationship with her father and attends Karan's engagement party, where she meets Tia. Tia wonders if revealing the truth about her origins was right, but Alisha reassures her it was. Tia, who is still unaware of everything that happened between Zain and Alisha, agrees to mend their relationship. Karan introduces them to his fiance's grandmother who recognizes Alisha instantly after she and Zain had helped her and her husband from a stranded boat. Alisha stares blankly at the woman, realizing that she can't escape the past without confronting it.