An unsteady mixed convection flow over a moving vertical plate in a parallel free stream is considered to investigate the combined effects of buoyancy force and thermal diffusion in presence of heat generation or absorption. The unsteadiness is introduced by the time dependent free stream velocity as well as by the moving plate velocity. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed into a non-dimensional form by a special group of non-similar transformations. The resulting system of coupled non-linear partial differential equations is solved by an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasi-linearization technique. Computations are performed and numerical results are displayed graphically to illustrate the influence of the buoyancy (mixed convection) parameter, Prandtl number, the ratio of free stream velocity to the composite reference velocity and heat generation or absorption parameter on the velocity and temperature profiles. The numerical results for the local skin-friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are also presented. Present results are compared with previously published work and are found to be in excellent agreement. It is found that in presence of buoyancy force (λ>0), the velocity profile exhibits velocity overshoot 80% more for lower Prandtl number (Pr=0.7) as compared to the magnitude of the velocity overshoot for higher Prandtl number (Pr=7.0). © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.