Anse Rainier, an American professor at
Lahore University, is kidnapped and held for ransom. Bobby Lincoln, an American journalist in
Pakistan, arranges to interview Rainier's colleague Changez Khan, who he suspects is involved in the kidnapping. Meeting Lincoln at a café, Changez declares his admiration for America's equal opportunities for economic advancement. His father is a respected poet, but money was always difficult for the family and Changez was only able to attend
Princeton University on a scholarship. After graduating, he joins a top
Wall Street valuation firm, Underwood Samson, and starts a relationship with an American photographer, Erica. In
Manila on business during the
September 11 attacks, Changez returns to the US and is quickly picked out, then invasively
strip-searched at the airport, leaving him furious at being unfairly treated. Leaving work, he is mistakenly arrested and interrogated by federal agents. His relationship with Erica is strained, largely because she feels responsible for the death of her former boyfriend in a
drunk-driving crash and still feels as though she is cheating on him. At the opening of Erica's art show, Changez is angered to discover she has used intimate details of their relationship in her art, and breaks up with her. Valuating a publishing house in Istanbul, Changez learns the firm is financially worthless, but when given a published copy of his father's poems, he is surprised to learn from the firm's owner that they were translated into Turkish. He has a change of heart and refuses to close down the company, infuriating his boss and mentor Jim Cross. Changez resigns from Underwood Samson. During his interview with Lincoln, Changez says he was approached by a
terrorist cell to become a
mujahid and was tempted to accept, angry and disillusioned by "the arrogance, the blindness, the hypocrisy" of the US. He refused when told about the "fundamental truths" of the
Quran, echoing a phrase from Jim Cross during their first encounter, "focusing on the fundamentals". Changez explains that both
Islamic fundamentalists and blind
capitalists like Underwood Samson similarly simplify and exploit people for their own means. Changez's visa expires and he returns home to
Lahore and is hired as a university lecturer, as departing foreign professors have left vacancies. He voices dissatisfaction with US intrusions in Pakistan, bringing him to the attention of the authorities, who raid his office and home, threatening his family. Lincoln is seen nearby, and Changez reveals that he knows Lincoln is working for the
CIA, having taken a photograph of him surveilling when Changez's office was raided previously. As Lincoln and Changez talk in the café, protestors gather outside, and Lincoln is pressured by his superiors to learn Rainier's location and complete "turning his target". The protests grow hostile, and Changez mentions he has heard of a butcher shop and discloses the address of a possible location. Contact is lost before the information can be phoned to Lincoln's fellow operatives. Changez raises Lincoln's suspicions by texting, but says he was communicating with his sister, Bina. Furious at receiving a picture of Rainier, dead, Lincoln blames Changez and demands to see his phone. Holding Changez at gunpoint, Lincoln uses him as a shield to push his way through the crowd. However, Lincoln is charged by one of the protesters and falls, accidentally shooting and killing Changez's "brother" Sameer. Another student fires at Lincoln, wounding him. Lincoln is quickly extracted by CIA agents, who have learned Rainier was found dead that morning, and that Changez had told them the truth about having no involvement in it. Checking his phone, he confirms the text was indeed sent to his sister. Changez delivers a
eulogy at Sameer's funeral, as Lincoln recuperates in a hospital, recalling Changez's words as he listens to the recording of the interview—"Looks can be deceiving. I am a lover of America... although I was raised to feel very Pakistani..." == Cast ==