Unmarried yuppies Patty (Melanie Griffith) and Drake (Matthew Modine) move into an expensive dream home in a high-end neighborhood in San Francisco. As they renovate the house, they look for a tenant for the first floor of their house. Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton) seems like a great fit at first, but it transpires that he is a con artist who plans to swindle them out of their real estate. As Hayes tries to drive them out of their own home, the couple must take drastic measures to fight back.