National Network for Equitable Library Service

A seismic shift in Hollywood’s power structure occurred during the 1980s. Gone were the moguls and founding fathers of the motion picture industry — Jack L. Warner, Louis B. Mayer, Carl Laemmle, Samuel Goldwyn, and Darryl Zanuck. The studios were being taken over by technological giants such as Sony and Panasonic, and the new owners turned to lawyers and talent agents to run their newly obtained properties. In 1982, an aspiring young screenwriter, Nick Caggiano, moves from the Bronx to Los Angeles, hoping to find work in the industry. At a famous bar and restaurant on the Sunset Strip one night, he encounters a wealthy young woman named Nicole. What transpires between them creates a riptide of greed, corruption, and perversion that drags Nick through the underbelly of the Hollywood establishment, upending his life and challenging his moral fabric and his sense of self.