"Rainbow Randolph" Smiley, a happily corrupt children's television host, is disgraced by an FBI sting for making deals with parents who want their kids on the show. He is replaced by the "squeaky clean" Sheldon Mopes and his character, Smoochy the Rhino. Mopes is uniquely sincere and thoroughly interested in providing quality child edutainment but is seen by the network as nothing but a substitute for Randolph and they immediately implement a full line of theme-related products based on Smoochy in order to reap the commercial benefits of what has quickly become a tremendously popular kids show. Randolph finds himself unemployed, homeless, and outcast from the television industry by his two-faced associate Marion Stokes. In an effort to return to the spotlight, Randolph hatches several schemes to bring down Mopes in hopes of reclaiming his time slot.