In the amoral Hollywood of the 1980s, no one has a sense of what is important or why before AIDS and in the middle of a drug explosion. A studio head named William (Billy Bob Thornton) seems to be a ringmaster of hedonistic chaos, while his wife Laura is a drug abuser who uses bisexual male prostitutes for a kick. A would-be actor and drug abuser named Jack (Brad Renfro) is used by a ruthless Uncle Peter (Mickey Rourke) for shady activities, and a father named Les Price (Chris Isaak) tries to pull his gay son out of the influences around them. No act is too heinous for the people in this world, and their unpleasantness resonates around the business and the culture they represent.