diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.2.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.2.txt
index 983f3edfa2f46..cbfebee2ceba2 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.2.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.2.txt
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ I/O
 Plotting
 ^^^^^^^^
 
+- Bug in ``DataFrame.plot`` with a single column and a list-like ``color`` (:issue:`3486`)
+
 
 
 
diff --git a/pandas/plotting/_core.py b/pandas/plotting/_core.py
index e88979b14c8af..c0f9f62106330 100644
--- a/pandas/plotting/_core.py
+++ b/pandas/plotting/_core.py
@@ -180,7 +180,8 @@ def _validate_color_args(self):
             colors = self.kwds.pop('colors')
             self.kwds['color'] = colors
 
-        if ('color' in self.kwds and self.nseries == 1):
+        if ('color' in self.kwds and self.nseries == 1 and
+                not is_list_like(self.kwds['color'])):
             # support series.plot(color='green')
             self.kwds['color'] = [self.kwds['color']]
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py
index 9abbb348fbfa8..e40ec5a1faea8 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py
@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ def test_mpl2_color_cycle_str(self):
         else:
             pytest.skip("not supported in matplotlib < 2.0.0")
 
+    def test_color_single_series_list(self):
+        # GH 3486
+        df = DataFrame({"A": [1, 2, 3]})
+        _check_plot_works(df.plot, color=['red'])
+
     def test_color_empty_string(self):
         df = DataFrame(randn(10, 2))
         with pytest.raises(ValueError):