Five boys – Donald "Duck" Matthews, Anthony "Choirboy" Stone, J.T. Matthews, Terrence "Dresser" Williams, and Eddie King, Jr. – perform at a
Battle of the Bands contest as The Heartbeats. The group loses to Flash and the Ebony Sparks, but pleases the crowd and is noticed by Jimmy Potter. Jimmy offers to manage the group, promising them $100 if they do not win the next month's Battle. After they lose again, Jimmy pays them. When the owner of the club asks to hire them, they agree to let Jimmy manage them. Bird and The Midnight Falcons, witnessing the Heartbeats rehearsing for a competition, become concerned they could lose; Bird asks his girlfriend to invite her friends and boo The Heartbeats while cheering The Falcons. The announcer, a cousin of one of the Falcons, forces The Heartbeats to use the house piano player. Duck grows frustrated with the pianist's playing and takes over his stool. Eddie leads the group in a number that results in Bird's girlfriend fainting in his arms. The Heartbeats win the contest and the interest of Big Red Davis, who owns Big Red Records. Big Red offers them a deal, but Jimmy and his wife Eleanor Potter, aware of Big Red's corruption, decline. The group instead releases their first single on Jimmy's own
independent label and searches for a record company they can trust, but no one else is interested aside from a label that wants to buy Duck's songs for a group they have already signed, The Five Horsemen. As a result, the Heartbeats are forced to sign with Big Red. The group goes on the road for a music tour. However, the travel is marred by racism and poor living conditions. Dresser's girlfriend visits and reveals she is pregnant. The group's first album cover features white people, despite the label having earlier approved a photo of the Heartbeats as the cover. Throughout the mid-to-late 1960s, The Five Heartbeats receive awards, chart hits, and are featured on magazine covers. However, Eddie abuses
alcohol and
cocaine, affecting his performance and prompting his girlfriend, Baby Doll, to break up with him. Convinced that Jimmy intends to replace him due to his deteriorating condition, he cuts a deal with Big Red to have Jimmy cut out of his contract. Jimmy threatens to go to authorities with information about
bootlegged LPs, cooked books, and
payola that could have Big Red arrested, leading the latter to have him killed. Following Jimmy's funeral, the group learns that Eddie's deceit caused the fallout between Jimmy and Big Red. Big Red is convicted of Jimmy's murder, forcing the group to sign with a new record label. Guilt-ridden over his indirect role in Jimmy's death, Eddie leaves the Heartbeats and falls further into substance abuse and poverty. The Heartbeats add Flash as their lead singer in Eddie's place. Duck comes to suspect his fiancée, Tanya Sawyer, is having an affair with Choirboy. He follows her to a hotel but discovers that Tanya is meeting with J.T., not Choirboy. Tanya's relationship with J.T. predates her relationship with Duck, but she says she is now in love with Duck. J.T. urges Tanya to disclose the affair, but she refuses. At an awards ceremony celebrating their success, Flash announces he is going solo. Duck reveals that he knows about the affair between Tanya and J.T. and also leaves the group, resulting in the Heartbeats' disbandment. In the early 1990s, Choirboy has returned to singing in his father's church. Eddie has become sober after converting to Christianity: he is now married to Baby Doll, sings in Choirboy's choir, and manages his own group. He asks Duck to write songs for them, who agrees. J.T. is now married to a wife and two children, including a son named "Duck"; the brothers reconcile. The only one to have maintained a singing career is Flash, who transitioned from
doo-wop to
pop music, and is part of the group Flash and The Five Horsemen. At a family gathering, the former Heartbeats reunite with their families and friends and try to remember and show their old moves. At first, Eddie declines, but Eleanor, coming to terms with her husband's death, forgives him. ==Cast ==