Hudsucker Industries is flourishing. Profits are stupendous, and stock is at an all-time high. So when their founder, Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning- Moonstruck, Suspect) leaps to his death from the 44th floor, his board of directors is thrown into panic. Hudsucker has not left a will, and his majority shareholding in the company must therefore soon be offered for sale to the public. But scheming Vice President Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman- The Sting, Nobody's Fool) has a plan. He'll install a complete imbecile as Chairman and devalue the stock to a level where the rest of the board can acquire controlling interests for themselves.

Enter inexperienced college leaver Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins- The Player, The Shawshank Redemption), a modest mail-room worker who suddenly finds himself elevated to Company Chairman. Not surprisingly, such a tale of rags-to-riches soon attracts considerable interest from the press in the form of gorgeous star reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh- Single White Female, Backdraft).

As stock values plummet, everything appears to be going according to plan- untill Norville actually does the unimaginable and invents a brilliant company-saving idea... something that captures the imagination of an entire nation.