In this comedy, a woman discovers that its impossible to get ahead in business without a man to guide her -- so she invents one. Laurel (Whoopi Goldberg) is an expert financial analyst with a top Wall Street brokerage; however, she keeps getting passed over for raises and promotions, and shes convinced that no one at her firm takes her seriously because shes a black woman. Frustrated, Laurel and her loyal assistant Sally (Dianne Wiest) open a new firm, but Laurel discovers that her fears were based firmly in reality: male clients dont want to take financial advice from women, especially women of color. So Laurel invents a white man, Robert S. Cutty, to be the firms top adviser. Speaking on Cuttys behalf, Laurel passes along the fictional mans advice, which her new clients find to be quite sound, and when they stop by to see him, he always manages to be out of the office (and why wouldnt a man so successful be busy?). The ruse seems to work, and soon Laurels business is going great guns, but an increasingly large number of her clients want to see Cutty face to face, which wont be easy to pull off. However, with the help of a drag queen, Laurel tries to remake herself into Cutty for a night in order to keep her firm afloat. The Associate was based on a novel by Italian author Jenaro Prieto. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide