Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition is a place where the rules don't apply. And the man who runs things -- legally and otherwise -- is the town's treasurer, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, who is equal parts politician and gangster.

It's midnight at The Court, a dirty ashtray of a rock club, and the tension is high. Music is blaring, beer is flowing and singer Keith Waters is about to get decked. "You didn't have to bail me out of jail" he says right before getting slammed with a jaw crushing punch from lead guitarist Jay Styles. Seconds later they are on stage giving a mind-blowing live performance that lands their band a record deal. Jay has sacrificed everything for this moment and is about to learn the hard way that it can truly take a lifetime to become an overnight sensation. A reporter gets the story about his journey to stardom - and about friendship, rock and roll and the sacrifices that go along with following your dream.

A clean-cut young lawyer meets a beautiful prostitute who drags him into a decadent dead-end world of sex and corruption.