In New York City, a theatre troupe rehearses a play. The playwright urges lead actor, Miles Pope, to make his performance more “black.” Miles, an African American man, is perturbed. He behaves in an exaggerated manner on the next run-through, thrilling the director. After rehearsal, Miles rides his bicycle through Manhattan, stopping to admire a theater poster for William Shakespeare’s Othello. At his Greenwich Village apartment building, he calls out the window to his friend, Duane, and a woman leans out. Miles addresses her as “Susie,” however, she says her name is Ruth. Realizing his mistake, Miles runs to his friend’s apartment, where he encounters Ruth leaving in a huff. Duane, a makeup artist, reprimands Miles for causing trouble. He tells his friend to call Harvey Cooper, an acting agent, but Miles laments that Harvey is terrible at his job. Later, Miles is pleasantly surprised when Harvey sends him to Florida to join the cast of A Raisin in the Sun. His enthusiasm turns to anger, however, when he discovers he will actually be playing a raisin in a cereal commercial. On his return to New York, Miles convinces the airline agent to give him a first class seat. He sits next to Leland Carver, a businessman whose face Miles recognizes from theater playbills. Thinking the man is a patron of the arts, the actor regales him with stories, but Carver pays scant attention. Halfway through the flight, turbulence forces an emergency landing. Fearing death, the passengers begin confessing truths to each other. Carver tells Miles that he is in reality Frank “Frankie” Lucino, a Mafia criminal thought to have died in an explosion five years earlier. Suddenly, the plane resumes a smooth course. At the airport, Carver instructs one of his associates to follow Miles. The actor eludes capture and proceeds to the police station, but no one believes his story. Miles finds his friend, Duane, at a dinner club, and frets that Leland Carver wants to kill him. Duane jokes that the gangster will never be able to locate a broke actor living in New York City. Meanwhile, Carver returns home and asks his associate, Anthony, to hire a hit man to get rid of Miles. Sometime later, when Miles leaves his apartment, gunshots ring out, and he runs for his life. He goes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to talk to the man who worked the Lucino case, but Agent Houston, still bitter, sends Miles away. Distraught, Miles finds Duane and asks for help. The makeup artist transforms Miles into a Caucasian man. Miles spends a day in Manhattan as a white man, before returning to his apartment, where Carver’s hit man confronts him. A fight ensues, and the killer accidentally electrocutes himself. Moments later, Carver’s associate, Anthony, bursts in. He mistakes Miles, still in makeup, for the hit man, Frank LaMotta, and berates him for killing an innocent tenant. Miles plays along and assists Anthony in dumping the body. Afterward, they visit Leland Carver at his mansion. There, Carver demands that “Frank” kill Miles Pope by morning. On his way out, Miles falls in love at first sight with Kristi, the Carver’s interior decorator. The smitten man returns to New York City, where he enjoys Frank LaMotta’s luxury hotel room. After learning Kristi’s whereabouts, Miles borrows a flamboyant costume from his friend Duane and visits the decorator at her studio. Kristi becomes suspicious when he begins asking questions about the Carvers, and demands to know his true identity. Miles drops his disguise and pleads for her help. However, Kristi thinks the truth is another tall tale. Dejected, Miles returns to the hotel room, where he finds Duane entertaining a woman. Duane mentions that Anthony called. Miles applies his Caucasian makeup and meets with Leland Carver, but he is unable to convince the irate gangster that a struggling New York actor poses no threat. At a loss for what to do, Miles again contacts FBI Agent Houston, who tells him to find hard evidence linking Carver to Lucino. The next day, Miles approaches Kristi and asks for her help, but she dismisses him as mentally unstable. Later, wearing his “Frank LaMotta” makeup, Miles knocks on the decorator’s door. He reveals the disguise, and she agrees to help. They go to the Carver’s mansion, but the Carvers return unexpectedly. Miles fabricates a colorful story about killing Miles Pope, pleasing Leland Carver. Later, Miles runs into his agent, Harvey Cooper, who says he has arranged for the actor to audition for the lead role in Othello. Miles performs a flawless monologue and is hired as understudy. The actor feels betrayed by his agent, but his mood improves when actor James Earl Jones steps forward to commend his audition. Backstage, Kristi professes her feelings for Miles. The next morning, Leland Carver reads a newspaper article about the discovery of Frank LaMotta’s body. He notices that the man’s photo looks nothing like the man he met. Carver sends Anthony to the hotel to investigate. Anthony pulls a gun on the undisguised Miles, but Kristi knocks the gangster out before he can cause harm. Kristi and Miles seek help from Agent Houston. Meanwhile, Anthony regains consciousness and informs Carver about Miles’s role as the understudy. Together, the two conspire to kill the actor. The day before the opening of Othello, James Earl Jones is struck by a car. FBI Agent Houston deduces that Carver plans to kill Miles on opening night. At the theater, the agent keeps a watchful eye on the audience as the performance unfolds. When Anthony goes to the balcony carrying a briefcase, agents follow. However, another shooter fires at Miles from the stage wings. A bleeding Miles stumbles into the audience and accuses Carver of being Frank Lucino. Agent Houston arrests the mobster, and Miles reveals he was protected by a bulletproof vest. Later, Miles and Kristi go on a trip to celebrate their budding relationship.