Trading Places - Plot

Plot

Duke brothers Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer (Don Ameche) own Duke & Duke, a successful commodities brokerage in Philadelphia. Holding opposing views on the issue of nature versus nurture, they make a wager of the "usual amount" and agree to conduct an experiment switching the lives of two people at opposite sides of the social hierarchy and observing the results. They witness an encounter between their managing director—the well-mannered and educated Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd), engaged to the Dukes' grand-niece Penelope (Kristin Holby)—and a poor street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy); Valentine is arrested at Winthorpe's insistence because of a suspected robbery attempt. The Dukes decide to use the two men for their experiment.

Winthorpe is publicly framed as a thief, drug dealer and adulterer by Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason) at the request of the Dukes. Winthorpe is fired from Duke & Duke, his bank accounts are frozen, he is denied entry to his Duke-owned home, and he quickly finds himself vilified by Penelope and his former friends. He befriends Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis), a prostitute who agrees to help him in exchange for a financial reward once he is exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dukes bail Valentine out of jail, install him in Winthorpe's former job and grant him use of Winthorpe's home. Valentine soon becomes well-versed in the business using his street smarts to achieve success, and begins to act well-mannered.

During the firm's Christmas party, Winthorpe is caught planting drugs in Valentine's desk in a desperate attempt to get his job back, and he brandishes a gun to escape. Later, the Dukes discuss their experiment and settle their wager for one dollar (the "usual amount"), before plotting to return Valentine to the streets. Valentine overhears the conversation, and seeks out Winthorpe. Winthorpe attempts suicide by overdosing on pills. Valentine, Ophelia and Winthorpe's former butler Coleman (Denholm Elliott) nurse him back to health and inform him of the Dukes' experiment. On television, they learn that Clarence Beeks is transporting a secret report on orange crop forecasts. Winthorpe and Valentine recall large payments made to Beeks by the Dukes and realize that the Dukes plan to obtain the report to corner the market on frozen orange juice. The group agrees to disrupt their plan as revenge.

On New Year's Eve, the four board Beeks' Philadelphia bound train, intending to switch his report with a forgery. Beeks uncovers their scheme and attempts to kill them, but he is knocked unconscious by a gorilla being transported on the train. The four disguise Beeks with a gorilla costume and lock him up with the real gorilla. The forged report indicating that the year's orange crop will be low is then delivered to the Dukes. Valentine and Winthorpe then travel to New York City with Coleman and Ophelia's life savings to carry out their part of the plan.

On the commodities trading floor, the Dukes commit all their holdings to buying frozen concentrated orange-juice futures contracts; other traders follow their lead, inflating the price. Meanwhile, Valentine and Winthorpe sell futures heavily at the inflated price. Following the broadcast of the actual crop report, showing that the orange crop will be normal, the price of orange-juice futures plummets. Valentine and Winthorpe buy back their futures at the lower price from everyone but the Dukes, turning a large profit. The Dukes fail to meet a margin call, and are left owing $394 million. Valentine and Winthorpe explain to the Dukes that they had made a wager on whether they could get rich while making the Dukes poor simultaneously. Valentine collects $1 from Winthorpe while Randolph collapses holding his chest and Mortimer shouts angrily at his brother about their failed plan.

Beeks and the gorilla are loaded onto a ship heading for Africa. Meanwhile, the now wealthy Valentine, Winthorpe, Ophelia, and Coleman vacation on a luxurious tropical beach.