Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra is the 18-year-old daughter of Punjabi Sikh Indians from Hounslow, west London. Jess is infatuated with football but her parents have forbidden her to play because she is a girl. She plays in the park sometimes with her good friend Tony, a closeted homosexual and his buddies, where her skills draw the attention of Juliette "Jules" Paxton, who plays for a local women's team, The Hounslow Harriers. Their coach, Joe, is impressed with her play and puts her on the team.
Jess pretends to have a job to play with the team and Jules and Jess become best friends, despite the fact that both are attracted to Joe. Jess enlists the aid of her sister to cover for her when the team travels to Germany for a big match but everything unravels when Jules spies Joe kissing Jess and then her parents find out and forbid her to continue. Meanwhile Jules's mother wrongly fears her daughter is a lesbian, thinking the girls' spat is a lovers' quarrel and Jess's parents are confronted by a similar accusation before Jess reveals the truth about her attraction to Joe.
While the elder Bhamras are distracted by the elaborate preparations for the upcoming wedding of their older daughter, Pinky, Jess continues to play and The Hounslow Harriers make their way towards the top of the league. Joe encourages Jess to come clean with her parents and eventually approaches Mr. Bhamra to explain she has a chance to win a prestigious scholarship but he refuses to believe it. Jess and Jules must sort their differences, make peace with their parents, overcome cultural prejudice, win their way to prestigious scholarships to Santa Clara University in California, and most importantly, dance at a Sikh wedding.