Zora Banks (Sanaa Lathan) is a would-be singer who pays her bills working as a New York City high school music teacher. Franklin Swift (Wesley Snipes) is a financially troubled, recently divorced builder with two young children. The two meet when Zora moves from Brooklyn to Manhattan and finds Franklin working on her apartment building. Despite their very different personal lives and their difficult financial situations, the two soon fall in love and begin a steamy affair.