Before Madonna, even before Marilyn, there was Josephine Baker (Lynn Whitfield), an African-American entertainer who rose from the crumbs of St. Louis society to become the toast of Paris nightlife in the 1920s and '30s. After escaping the vaudeville circuit in the United States, she gains fame and glory abroad for her scantily clad "banana dance." But when she returns to America, she must confront the racism she left behind.