A destitute 14-year-old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing separation from his slightly older brother.

A failed New Jersey inventor embarks on a career as a standup comic, turns to drink, and labors to keep his family together.

New York 1952. Mickey Jelke inherits a big sum of money and spends his nights in Manhattan, painting the city red. Night after night, he can be found in one Broadway bar or the other, in the company of disreputable persons like pimps and prostitutes. One day,a shady cop, aided by Mickey's own girlfriend, Patricia, decides to accuse him of running a prostitution network. A scandal breaks out.

Having missed several deadlines, and with the studio's attorneys hassling him, screenwriter Elliot Callahan (Tom Gilroy) takes the advice of his agent and rents a beachside house on the island Nantucket to find the peace and quiet he needs to get the creative juices flowing. There he meets the seriously intense Henry Carver (Matthew Dixon), who's written a screenplay he wants Callahan to read. Before long, Callahan suspects that Henry might be a serial killer writing about himself and that his screenplay is worth plagiarizing.