Editing Jungle Fever (section)

==Plot==
Successful [[Harlem]] architect Flipper Purify lives with his wife Drew, a [[Buyer (fashion)|buyer]] at [[Bloomingdale's]], and their young daughter, Ming. One day at his office, the Mast & Covington architecture firm in mid-town Manhattan, Flipper discovers that an [[Italian-American]] woman named Angela "Angie" Tucci from [[Bensonhurst]] has been hired as his [[temporary worker|temp]] secretary. Initially upset at being the only black person, he relents when senior partners Jerry and Leslie remind him that hiring is based on ability, not race.

Angie's quiet fiancé Paulie Carbone co-manages a corner grocery store/cafe and newsstand and lives with his elderly widowed father Lou. When Paulie arrives to take her out on a date, her brothers Charlie and James antagonize him while he awaits her arrival, threatening physical retribution if he sexually disrespects her. Nevertheless, she urges Paulie to stand up to them as they depart.

After working several late nights together, Flipper and Angie have sex, beginning a tumultuous relationship. The next day, Flipper demands that Jerry and Leslie promote him to partner, but they deny his request, and he resigns, telling his employers that his ideas have made the firm very profitable. Eventually, he admits his infidelity to his longtime friend, Cyrus, who criticizes him not for his infidelity towards his wife, but for his affair with a white woman. Cyrus describes his situation as "jungle fever"—an attraction borne of sexualized racial myths rather than love—and Flipper warns him against telling anyone. Angie's friends are equally disparaging when she discloses her liaison.

Drew learns about Flipper's affair through Cyrus's wife Vera and ejects him from their home, forcing him to move in with his father,  [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist]] [[preacher]] the Good Reverend Doctor Purify, and his mother, Lucinda. Later that night, he confronts Cyrus for betraying his trust and insults Vera for being unable to keep a secret, which damages his friendship with Cyrus. Shortly afterwards, Flipper denounces Cyrus, realizing that he will always side with Vera regardless of her actions. Later, Angie devastates Paulie by ending their longstanding engagement, but when she returns, her father Mike, having discovered her relationship with Flipper, severely beats Angie with his belt and kicks her out.

Flipper attempts to reconcile with Drew at her workplace by bringing her flowers, but Drew declines, feeling he was only attracted to her for being half-white. He and Angie move into an apartment in [[Greenwich Village]], where they encounter discrimination for being a mixed-race couple, such as insults from a waitress named LaShawn at a local restaurant, chastisement from the Good Reverend during the couple's dinner with his parents, and financial issues. One night, Flipper is restrained and almost arrested by two policemen who receive a wrongful report that he was attacking Angie. The couple's issues are compounded by Flipper's feelings for his family and her wanting to have children of her own, causing their split. Echoing Cyrus's earlier words, Flipper tells Angie their relationship has been based on sexual racial myths and not love. Angie, although upset, accepts that the affair has ultimately run its course.

Later, Flipper's [[Crack cocaine|crack]]-addicted brother Gator steals and sells Lucinda's TV for drugs. Searching all over Harlem, Flipper eventually locates him in a crack house and exasperatedly disowns him. Soon afterwards, Gator returns to his parents' house to ask for money and, after Lucinda refuses, begins ransacking the home. His erratic behavior ignites an altercation that ends with the Good Reverend angrily disowning him before shooting him with a handgun. Gator collapses and dies in Lucinda's arms as the Good Reverend watches remorsefully.

Meanwhile, Paulie's racist Italian-American friends mock the end of his engagement. He asks one of his customers, a friendly black woman named Orin Goode, out on a date, defying Lou. En route to meet Orin, his other customers viciously assault him for attempting an interracial relationship. Although badly beaten, Paulie still arrives for his date with Orin. Mike reluctantly allows Angie to return home, and Flipper, unaware of his own family tragedy, unsuccessfully tries to mend his relationship with Drew. As Flipper leaves from his apartment, a young crack-addicted prostitute propositions him; in response, Flipper embraces her and cries out in anguished torment.