Somewhere in Africa, American expatriate John Franklin Bourgignon is carried through the jungle in an ornate sedan chair by native bearers, who mock him with feigned adulation. Not long ago, John operated a struggling limousine service with his friend, Chick Leff, and was engaged to Nancy Reese, the daughter of congressman and presidential hopeful Ed Reese. John recalls the events leading up to this moment, the first of which is a meeting with financier and low-budget filmmaker Sal Di Pasquale. Sal asks to document John and Nancy’s wedding on film, and is willing to forgive the $12,300 John and Chick owe on their limousine if they can get the congressman’s approval. John promises to arrange a meeting, but advises Sal to keep his expectations low, as Reese dislikes anything or anyone associated with his future son-in-law. Meanwhile, at the courthouse, Reese speaks to a television news reporter about the crimes of Reverend Sun Yi Day, a religious cult leader charged with tax evasion, kidnapping, and jury tampering. Sun Yi denounces the congressman, saying that the trial is a diversion from Reese’s own improprieties. The next evening, John has an unpleasant dinner at the Reese home, where he is bombarded with criticisms from both Grandmother Reese and the congressman, while Nancy’s sister, Patti, rebukes her father for persecuting Sun Yi. At a nearby aerobics studio, a group of young women are brainwashed during an exercise class, while Sun Yi presides over a businesses meeting in which he orders his mistress, Angela, to use John as a means to eliminate Reese. Later, John is hired to play drums at a male strip club and instigates a riot as he ejects sexually aroused female patrons from the stage. Following a hearing in night court, John is handcuffed to a felon named Muhammed Jerome Willy and transported to jail. When the van makes a stop, Muhammed escapes, dragging John along with him, and they take refuge at the apartment of the felon’s girl friend, Francine. John is forced to wait outside the door while the couple makes love, which ends abruptly when Muhammed suffers a fatal heart attack. John telephones Chick for help, then drags the body to a restaurant, where he waits at a table with the body seated next to him. Muhammed’s friend, Wallace Jefferson, joins them and becomes engrossed in a one-sided conversation with the corpse, while Chick separates the handcuffs with a hacksaw. The next day, Sal screens his martial arts epic, Kung Fu U, for Reese, who finds both Sal and his film appalling. Sal is undeterred and wins Reese’s approval by blackmailing him with photographic evidence of a past indiscretion. Meanwhile, John is summoned to Sun Yi’s aerobics studio by minions Angela, Bruno, and Clarence, who pose as clients. Angela places John under a hypnotic spell and instructs him to kill Reese at the wedding rehearsal. His signal will be a playing card, the five of spades. When John arrives at the rehearsal, Patti shows him the card, but instead of killing Reese, John behaves like an oversexed adolescent. Chick brings his friend to Dr. Ted, a bargain-priced psychiatrist, who suspends John by his ankles from a second-story window as a form of therapy. Afterward, John meets Nancy at a restaurant to beg forgiveness, assuring her that he will control his behavior in the future. However, the restaurant is adorned with images of playing cards, and the sight of the five of spades compels John to expose himself to the other patrons. Despite her annoyance, Nancy believes John’s condition to be temporary and has no intention of cancelling the wedding. When John returns home, he is kidnapped and taken to the aerobics studio, where Angela places him under another spell, telling him that all fathers are evil and must be destroyed, especially Congressman Reese. She further indoctrinates John with a counterfeit episode of Father Knows Best, which portrays the title character as cruel and sadistic. John is then instructed to shoot Reese upon hearing the phrase, “With this ring, I thee wed.” On the day of the wedding, Patti hands John a pistol before he takes his places at the altar. Reese escorts Nancy up the aisle as Angela and Bruno watch from a pew in anticipation. John is silent throughout the ceremony, but upon hearing the designated phrase, he aims the gun at Angela and Bruno, declaring that the spell was ineffective, thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of television. John is feted as a hero, and Reese rewards him with a limousine franchise in Africa. Back in the jungle, John leads the natives in a chorus of “Blue Moon,” while nearby, Wallace continues his one-sided conversation with Muhammed’s corpse.