Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) has been accepted to Harvard Law School, but his dreams are dashed when his parents withdraw financial support. In desperation, Mark chemically darkens his skin and wins a full scholarship intended for black students. What results is a series of comic misadventures including romantic entanglements that explode stereotypes. Suddenly, in a bout with his conscience, he learns that his clever trick denied a far more deserving student a scholarship. On his day of reckoning, Mark makes restitution and leaves everyone in the school a little changed by the experience. James Earl Jones, Rae Dawn Chong, Leslie Nielsen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus co-star in this outrageous comedy.