Satya is the story of a man who comes to Mumbai to make a living. A series of incidents put him in jail where he meets and becomes close to a gangster Bheeku Mhatre (Manoj Bajpai). Once out of prison, Bheeku initiates him into the gang and gives him a place to live in.

Opposite this apartment, Vidya (Urmila Matondkar), a struggling singer, lives with her aged parents. A relationship between Satya (J. D. Chakravarthy) and Vidya develops alongside his rise in the underworld. Of the latter fact however, Vidya is completely unaware. As his love for Vidya grows in intensity, so does the need to conceal his identity from her, until he finds himself living a lie.

The tension of living a double-life trapped between underworld gangwars and his desperate fear for Vidya's safety jeopardised by his proximity to her-makes him want to get out of this life of crime. The events which follow this decision from the climatic, sequence of the story.

Satya is the story of truth as it is perceived by different eyes, where only shadow lines demarcate the good actions from the bad... and only the happiness and pain that follow are a reality.