diff --git a/converters/html.py b/converters/html.py
index ffee07c..1d6b44a 100755
--- a/converters/html.py
+++ b/converters/html.py
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ class ConverterHTML(Converter):
             '<div class="prompt input_prompt">In&nbsp;[%s]:</div>' % n
         )
         lines.append('<div class="input_area box-flex1">')
-        lines.append(highlight(cell.input) if self.highlight else cell.input)
+        lines.append(highlight(cell.input) if self.highlight_code
+                     else cell.input)
         lines.append('</div>')  # input_area
         lines.append('</div>')  # input
 
diff --git a/nbconvert.py b/nbconvert.py
index bf4dd02..a4e0a48 100755
--- a/nbconvert.py
+++ b/nbconvert.py
@@ -84,4 +84,4 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     exclude_cells = [s.strip() for s in args.exclude.split(',')]
 
     main(infile=args.infile[0], format=args.format, preamble=args.preamble,
-         exclude=exclude_cells, highlight_code=args.plain_output)
+         exclude=exclude_cells, highlight_code=args.no_highlighting)