diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst
index 8b28a4439e1da..39e53daf516c4 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ I/O
 Plotting
 ^^^^^^^^
 
--
+- Bug in :meth:`DataFrame.plot` where a marker letter in the ``style`` keyword sometimes causes a ``ValueError`` (:issue:`21003`)
 -
 
 Groupby/resample/rolling
diff --git a/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/core.py b/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/core.py
index f0b35e1cd2a74..def4a1dc3f5c4 100644
--- a/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/core.py
+++ b/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/core.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import re
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, List, Optional, Tuple
 import warnings
 
@@ -55,6 +54,15 @@
     from matplotlib.axis import Axis
 
 
+def _color_in_style(style: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if there is a color letter in the style string.
+    """
+    from matplotlib.colors import BASE_COLORS
+
+    return not set(BASE_COLORS).isdisjoint(style)
+
+
 class MPLPlot:
     """
     Base class for assembling a pandas plot using matplotlib
@@ -200,8 +208,6 @@ def __init__(
         self._validate_color_args()
 
     def _validate_color_args(self):
-        import matplotlib.colors
-
         if (
             "color" in self.kwds
             and self.nseries == 1
@@ -233,13 +239,12 @@ def _validate_color_args(self):
                 styles = [self.style]
             # need only a single match
             for s in styles:
-                for char in s:
-                    if char in matplotlib.colors.BASE_COLORS:
-                        raise ValueError(
-                            "Cannot pass 'style' string with a color symbol and "
-                            "'color' keyword argument. Please use one or the other or "
-                            "pass 'style' without a color symbol"
-                        )
+                if _color_in_style(s):
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        "Cannot pass 'style' string with a color symbol and "
+                        "'color' keyword argument. Please use one or the "
+                        "other or pass 'style' without a color symbol"
+                    )
 
     def _iter_data(self, data=None, keep_index=False, fillna=None):
         if data is None:
@@ -739,7 +744,7 @@ def _apply_style_colors(self, colors, kwds, col_num, label):
                 style = self.style
 
         has_color = "color" in kwds or self.colormap is not None
-        nocolor_style = style is None or re.match("[a-z]+", style) is None
+        nocolor_style = style is None or not _color_in_style(style)
         if (has_color or self.subplots) and nocolor_style:
             if isinstance(colors, dict):
                 kwds["color"] = colors[label]
diff --git a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py
index 9ab697cb57690..56c7cb4785668 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_frame.py
@@ -205,6 +205,24 @@ def test_color_and_style_arguments(self):
         with pytest.raises(ValueError):
             df.plot(color=["red", "black"], style=["k-", "r--"])
 
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        "color, expected",
+        [
+            ("green", ["green"] * 4),
+            (["yellow", "red", "green", "blue"], ["yellow", "red", "green", "blue"]),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_color_and_marker(self, color, expected):
+        # GH 21003
+        df = DataFrame(np.random.random((7, 4)))
+        ax = df.plot(color=color, style="d--")
+        # check colors
+        result = [i.get_color() for i in ax.lines]
+        assert result == expected
+        # check markers and linestyles
+        assert all(i.get_linestyle() == "--" for i in ax.lines)
+        assert all(i.get_marker() == "d" for i in ax.lines)
+
     def test_nonnumeric_exclude(self):
         df = DataFrame({"A": ["x", "y", "z"], "B": [1, 2, 3]})
         ax = df.plot()
diff --git a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py
index c296e2a6278c5..85c06b2e7b748 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py
@@ -958,7 +958,7 @@ def test_plot_no_numeric_data(self):
     def test_style_single_ok(self):
         s = pd.Series([1, 2])
         ax = s.plot(style="s", color="C3")
-        assert ax.lines[0].get_color() == ["C3"]
+        assert ax.lines[0].get_color() == "C3"
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "index_name, old_label, new_label",