While serving in Vietnam, African-American Harold Williams (Winfield) saved the lives of Vietnamese Mai (Tom) and her young brother Dwayne (Lo) and he and wife Dolores (Alice) adopted the duo. Dwayne acts black and has a black girlfriend, Nina (Lathan), but married Mai has never forgotten her roots and announces to the stunned family that she has located her birth mother, Thanh (Chinh), and the woman is coming not only to visit but to live with her. But Thanh turns out to be a critical schemer, unreasonably jealous of the Williams', and determined to reclaim her grown children, no matter what the cost.