While there she enters a whirlwind romance with Mtumbie (Demetrius Grosse), but shortly before returning home she breaks off their engagement when she catches him with another woman.

To protect herself from the disapproval of her father (Keith David), she enlists Malcolm (Shamier Anderson), a Canadian pool hustler on the run from his vengeful partner in crime Tyrell (Lyriq Bent), to impersonate Mtumbie.

He shows his carpentry skills helping her dad build a small studio, and he and Maya connect while joking around with some paints on a canvas.

In the meantime, Tyrell sees Malcolm in town and demands he give his split of an earlier pool hustle, which he doesn't have because he returned it.

Malcolm lets Tyrell think he's impersonating Mtumbie to scam the family out of money, when in reality he's planning to fake his death for Maya's sake.