His father misunderstands him, and believes that the prince wishes to 'sow his royal oats' before settling down with his arranged bride. The prince and his best friend, played by Arsenio Hall, set off to New York, and picks the area of Queens as the best place to look for potential brides.

Murphy and Hall pretend to be African exchange students so that people will not treat them differently for their royalty. Eventually Murphy meets a girl that is the daughter of the owner of the fast food restaurant that he and his friend work at. It takes a while to win her over but he does and they fall in love. After she finds out who Murphy really is, she is at first upset that he lied. At the end, love prevails and the two are married as the new King and Queen.

One part of the film has three old men who are gossiping in a barbershop. All of them are played by Eddie Murphy.

The film was the subject of a lawsuit filed by Art Buchwald against the film's producers on the grounds that the film was taken from a script written by Buchwald.