As a young boy growing up in Montecarlo, Georgia, Darrin sings in the church choir alongside his mother (Faith Evans). Darrin and his mom leave town after the choir discovers that she has been singing rhythm and blues in a local club. Twenty years later, Darrin (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a broke, junior-level advertising executive in New York City who has just been fired. Summoned back to Montecarlo when his only living relative dies, Darrin discovers that he stands to inherit her estate if he can revive the choir at his old church and win the annual Gospel Explosion.