The story is set in the picturesque locales of Simla before moving to the bylanes and music industry of Bombay. Dev Anand, who had just returned from England after studying in the Royal Academy of Music, and K. N. Singh, his father, have a constant tiff as Dev wants to make music making his career, while Singh wants him to carry on with his civil contracting business. Things worsen when Nutan comes to meet Dev. She coaxes him to go to Bombay and prove that he can make a successful career in music also. Dev becomes successful, but falls prey to the machinations of a dancer, who breaks all links between Nutan and Dev. He goes to see Nutan, but she was being married to Krishan Dhawan (the only weak link in the story). A dejected Dev comes back and takes to drinks. When Nutan comes to know of the truth, she comes to Bombay to stop him from ruining his life and career. On the day when Dev has won a major award for his work, both Dev and Nutan have a confrontation, later joined by Krishan Dhawan, who dies in an accident, and the two lovers are united.
Dev Anand gave a scintillating, and restrained, performance as a lover and later drunkard. Nutan, as usual, was superb. Sachin Deb Burman gave a memorable and haunting musical score in this film as well. His experiments of giving new ambiance to the duets in Indian Film Music, which started with films like "Paying Guest", "Nau Do Gyarah", "Kala Pani" etc., continued in this film, and he gave three lovable numbers in "Dil to hai deewana na, mane na bahana na", "Chupke se mile pyaase pyaase kuchh ham, kuchh tum" and "Ai kaash chalte milke, yeh teen raahi dil ke, chaand aur main aur too". His continued experimentation to give a different form to ghazal was evident in Manna Dey's "Ham dam se gaye, hamdam ke liye, hamdam ki qasam, hamdam na mila". Manna Dey's comic number "Are hato, kaahe ko jhoothi banao batiyan" was an excellent composition, equally well enacted by Mahmood, in the role of a paan-shop wala, crazy about singing. And of course, the most popular number was the sad version of "Yaad aa gayin, woh nasheeli nigahen", soulfully sung by Hemant Kumar.
