In honor of his deceased physician father, Deepak V. Chopra is able to graduate from medical school at the top of his class at the University of New Delhi, his primary motive in becoming a doctor to help others.
But in wanting a better life, he decides to immigrate with his supportive mother, Nellie Chopra, to Toronto, they sponsored by his maternal uncle, Vijay Sharma, a restaurateur living his version of the immigrant dream with his Caucasian Canadian wife, Rani Sharma.
Deepak finds that his dream of being a doctor in Canada is not as easy as he envisioned, as he is turned down from one physician job after another despite there being a shortage of physicians in the country in general.
In the process, Deepak is initially reluctant to work in any other profession, despite not wanting to live off his family.
His life changes in meeting two people. The first is Tony, a constantly on-the-prowl South Asian cabbie. Although Tony has never wanted to be anything but a cabbie, he introduces Deepak to his fellow immigrant cabbies, most who are highly educated but cannot find work in their chosen field.
The second is Natalie Wilman, a Caucasian barista at a coffee house who was, out of circumstance, somewhat forced out of her own chosen profession as lawyer. For Deepak, it's love at first sight with Natalie.
In the combination of Tony and Natalie with some extra help by Tony's boss, Pete Donaldson who is in advanced stage lung cancer, Deepak stumbles onto a way that he can use his medical know-how to help people in need.
But Deepak living the Canadian dream, with Natalie if she'll have him, is not a bump-free road as he has to deal with Canadian laws and regulations, and as Natalie's ex-boyfriend, Colin Hill, a lawyer himself who is making a run for mayor in the upcoming election, has ulterior motives in not seeing a Natalie-Deepak happy ending.