When Walter Vale, an economics professor from Connecticut, returns to his New York apartment after a business trip, he's shocked to find a Tarek and Zanaib, a young, down-on-their luck immigrant couple, has moved in during his absence. Touched by their desperation, the professor allows the couple to stay, and they proceed to introduce him to a vibrant new world of spirit and rhythm and in the city he thought he knew. When Tarek is threatened with deportation, Vale will find a resevoir of passion and energy he thought he'd lost long ago.