Mason Randolph, a black preppie bound for Stanford Law School, decides to take a little detour through Harlem, for a chance to live with real black people'. Adopting the name Malik, he enters the orbit of Carmen, the doyenne of Harlem. Always ready to have a handsome young man join her devoted entourage, Carmen happily takes him under her wing, where his masquerade is fuelled by his parents' money. But when he meets Kyra and discovers the choices she's made, he realises that everyone has something to hide - and that to get what we want, we have to be willing to let go.'