A young man, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) in Mumbai, India, is a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The skeptical host is sure that he is cheating somehow and has him brutally questioned by the police. No one can believe he had so much knowledge since he grew up in the slums of Bombay and was almost totally uneducated. The questioning reveals the details of how he came to know the answers through his real life, and sometimes violent experiences. His story telling takes us through his adventures and travels from when he was a very young boy through the current day. Jamal comes to the conclusion that it was his destiny to find his love, Latika (Freida Pinto), that brought him through the journey.