影片改编自真实故事，20世纪50年代的美国，从小励志改变命运的黑人企业家伯纳德（安东尼·麦凯 饰）和乔（塞缪尔·杰克逊 饰）在种族制度的枷锁下，创业处处受阻。不得已他们想出奇招，雇佣白人马特（尼古拉斯·霍尔特 饰）来扮演他们产业帝国的“老大”，伯纳德和乔则扮成门房和司机，幕后操盘。就在他们的产业帝国越发壮大之时，却面临暴露的危险……Revolutionary businessmen Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) and Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson) devise an audacious and risky plan to take on the racist establishment of the 1960s by helping other African Americans pursue the American dream. Along with Garrett's wife Eunice (Nia Long), they train a working class white man, Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult), to pose as the rich and privileged face of their burgeoning real estate and banking empire - while Garrett and Morris pose as a janitor and a chauffeur. Their success ultimately draws the attention of the federal government, which threatens everything the four have built.