This is the story of Gus Kubiak (Steve Guttenberg), an overweight, sloppy man with no hair on his head except maybe six strands. His face is puffy and his eyes bulging with dark bags. Gus is drawing cartoons of himself as he went through radiation therapy for leukemia. Gus has a sister Lizzie Potts (Shelly Long) who is a meddling dynamo with a heart of gold, a romance novelist, who thinks her brother should start meeting girls. Lizzie meets Emily Pear, a reporter wanting to do a story on Lizzie. Lizzie does an interview with Emily hoping to pair her up with her brother. Lizzie invites Emily over for dinner. Boy meets girl, but because of Gus' appearance, Emily is not interested, although she feels sorry for him. She tells Lizzie it's not the looks that count, it's what's inside. Lizzie has a plan to prove her wrong. She does a total makeover on her brother, fitness training, and hair extensions. Gus then disguises himself as an Australian called Lobo, a broad shouldered, tan, georgeous man with long hair who rides a motorcycle. He sweeps Emily off her feet, causing her to fall madly in love with Gus. She finds out it was all a game to prove her wrong, not realizing that Gus has also fallen in love with her.