Daniel Hillard is a loving but irresponsible father whose marriage collapses, and a judge grants him only a weekly visit with his three children. Unable to bear the separation, when he learns his ex-wife is looking for a housekeeper he hatches a preposterous plan: to disguise himself as an endearing middle-aged British nanny, Mrs. Doubtfire, to sneak back into his own home. Beneath the makeup he learns to be the father he never knew how to be, though keeping up the charade becomes an ever more difficult balancing act. A tender and hilarious family comedy, carried by its star's comic tour de force.