Q&A is the story of Ram, an 18-year-old waiter who won the grand prize in the game show “Who Wants to Win a Billion.” However, before this particular episode is aired, he is arrested because he is believed to have cheated, as a simple waiter cannot possibly have known the answers to all 15 questions. The producers of the show reveal to the police that they are not ready to pay out the money because the script does not allow it, and so an interrogator tries to torture Ram. Just before he is ready to sign a confession letter, a female lawyer comes in and demands his release. He then stays with her and tells her the life stories which led to him knowing the answers to the questions in the game show.
In “The Death of a Hero,” Ram and his friend Salim visit the cinema to watch a movie starring Salim’s hero Armaan Ali. About halfway through the movie, a man sits next to Salim and repeatedly tries to touch him. When Salim has had enough, he tugs at the man’s beard, which turns out to be a disguise, and discovers that the man is actually his idol Armaan Ali.
“The Burden of a Priest” covers Ram’s early life, from being abandoned by his mother to living in an orphanage and finally growing up with a priest called Father Timothy, who treats him like his own son. He also gives him a Christian, Hindu, and Muslim name to protect him from religious feuds, and teaches him English. One day, another priest, Father John, arrives at the congregation and Ram finds out that he abuses other boys. However, before any action can be taken against him, Father John kills Father Timothy and himself, so Ram is brought to a juvenile home.
In “A Brother’s Promise,” Ram gets to know a family who has moved in next to his apartment. The father, having recently lost his job as an astronomer, turns out to be a violent alcoholic who abuses his wife and daughter. When he sprays hot tea onto his daughter’s face, Ram visits her at the hospital and becomes like a brother to her. Soon after, she is sexually abused by her father, so Ram--full of rage--pushes him over a rail, and escapes when he sees him lying there motionless.
“A Thought for the Crippled” deals with Ram and his friend Salim being bought by a wealthy man called Maman so they could attend a better school--or so they thought. However, it turns out that Maman not only exploits little disabled children by forcing them to beg for money, but he is also the one who crippled them in the first place. When Ram and Salim have finished their singing lessons, they fear that they will meet the same fate and escape from Maman.
In “How to Speak Australian,” Ram works at an Australian diplomat’s house. When he finds out that the diplomat, who is a Colonel, secretly meets with Indian officials, he uses his acquired Australian accent to report it to the authorities and get the Colonel arrested.
In “Hold on to your Buttons,” Ram works as a bartender where he engages in a conversation with an apparently wealthy but sad businessman, who tells him the story of how he met a Caribbean woman who used her voodoo skills to kill his brother so he would become the MD of their button company. However, just when the businessman reveals his plot of killing his wife, he drops dead as well.
With the salary that he received from the Colonel, Ram embarks on a train ride to Mumbai to meet his friend Salim, which is the plot of “Murder on the Western Express.” On the train, he meets a family and shows the son the 50,000 rupees that he is hiding in his underwear. When a robber asks everyone for their money, the son tells him about Ram’s hidden secret out of envy. After the robber has taken the money, he tries to molest the daughter of the family. However, Ram becomes furious, grabs the robber’s gun and shoots him.
The next chapter, “A Soldier’s Tale,” takes place during a war with Pakistan. In a bunker, a man tells the story of his own heroic deed where he lost a leg. Ram and the others are amazed by the bravery of the veteran. When a Colonel visits the group to ask for donations, they ask him to consider awarding the veteran with a medal, but when the Colonel sees the veteran, he tells the group that he is a deserter and a coward. The next day, the veteran is found hanging from a ceiling fan.
“License to Kill” is about Ram’s best friend Salim, who he meets after five years and tells him the story of how he got a hitman to kill Maman.
In “Tragedy Queen,” Ram recounts his time as the servant of Neelima Kumari, who once was one of the greatest actresses in India and has trouble accepting that she is getting too old to play the roles of young heroines. She also fell for a man who beats her up badly; Ram later discovers that this man is the game show host Prem Kumar. At the end of the chapter, Neelima commits suicide so the public would remember her as a beautiful young lady. However, her decomposed body is only found weeks later (Ram did not go to the police because he feared they would blame him for her death).
“A Love Story” begins at the Taj Mahal, where Ram starts to work as an illegal tour guide. There he meets a group of rich boys, who bring him to a fancy restaurant and a brothel, where he makes love with a prostitute called Nita. After some more meetings with her, the two fall in love, but her pimp (who is also her brother) demands 400,000 rupees for her freedom. Ram eventually steals the money from his rich landlord, who let her own son, one of Ram’s closest friends, die of rabies cold-heartedly. However, Ram realizes that Nita’s brother will never let her go, so he gives the money to a father, whose son is sick with rabies.
In “The Thirteenth Question,” the quiz master reveals the last question to Ram, who admits that he does not know the answer. However, when both of them go to the restroom during a commercial break, Ram threatens to kill Prem because he abused Neelima. Prem begs for his life and gives Ram a hint, which eventually leads to Ram winning the grand prize of one billion rupees.
With the help of the lawyer, who turns out to be Gudiya, the daughter of the abusive man who Ram thought to have killed, the production company finally pays out the prize money. Ram marries Nita, buys a Mercedes, uses some of the money to bribe the police to raid Maman’s orphanage, and reveals that both sides of his lucky coin show the same face.
