A collection of intersecting short stories set in early 1980s Los Angeles, depicts a week in the lives of an assortment of socially alienated, mainly well-off characters who numb their sense of emptiness with casual sex, violence, and drugs.
A young guy short on luck, enrolls in a class to build confidence to help win over the girl of his dreams, which becomes complicated when his teacher has the same agenda.
A small Colorado mountain town elects as its mayor a writer whom some residents consider "eccentric" and others don't care for because he's a former hippie. Complications ensue when soon after the election, a dead body crashes through the skylight of a local building, and the body turns out to be the new mayor's ex-wife.
