It is an adaptation of Stanley Shapiro's 1970 play The Engagement Baby, which starred Barry Nelson and Clifton Davis and closed on Broadway after just four performances.

Roger Porter, a 17-year-old African-American boy, is the long-lost son of Walter Whitney, a successful businessman living in the exclusive, predominantly white community of San Marino, California.

Walter, who is secretly Jewish, lives a frustrating life in his gated community—as he constantly has to beg his wife Vivian for intercourse and has to put up with his obnoxious, disrespectful step-daughter Mary Ann's antics.

Walter checks into a sleazy motel with Roger, and is unable to get a corporate job or a loan because Nelson has had all business leaders in town blacklist him.

A determined Walter ultimately takes a job shoveling horse manure in a stable, after telling Garvey to have Roger find him "a cheap furnished apartment"; Roger hocks Walter's golf clubs to finance their move into a rundown apartment in Watts, Los Angeles.

[5] Principal photography began on May 19, 1980, at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio in Hollywood, California, and concluded in July 1980.

[5] The film premiered with a benefit screening at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles attended by former Vice President Walter Mondale, with proceeds going to the Hamburger Home.