In THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS, Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Darren, who returns to his small Southern hometown for the first time in many years after his aunt's death. She leaves him $150,000, provided that he can get her beloved church choir to win a competition. Darren has spent his life staying far away from the place where his mother was thrown out of the church for singing music that wasn't considered appropriate. Although he is still bitter and angry, he is also insecure, so he fabricates a background he thinks makes him more acceptable. He is so eager to be successful that he proposes an ad campaign that exploits small-town blacks in order to sell more malt liquor. But his lies are exposed and he is fired. He owes a great deal of money. That $150,000 is one temptation he cannot resist, especially when he sees a singer named Lilly (Beyonce Knowles) who could not just win the competition but make some of his other dreams come true as well.