Jim Carrey plays Peter Appleton, an egoistic studio script writer in post-WW2 Hollywood. Appleton's career is just getting off the ground when his name comes to the attention of a Congressional committee investigating the Communist affiliations of prominent Americans. Finding himself blacklisted by his studio, Appleton drinks too much then goes for a long drive to try and sort things out. He awakens on a deserted beach near a small town only to discover he has amnesia and can't remember anything about his past. But that doesn't stop the town residents from remembering him as Luke Trimble, a much beloved home-town kid to whom Appleton bears an uncanny resemblance. In the weeks that follow, the townspeople "remind" Appleton why Luke was so well-liked, and finds himself living up to a new set of values he never possessed prior to his accident -- and liking himself the better for it.
