Set in a post-nuclear-holocaust future, this sci-fi western takes place in the frontier city of New Hope, the only place around with a working oil refinery. Ever since a megalomaniac general and his followers took over the place, life has been miserable. Then a stranger, a man-of-few-words, comes to town. A quick-drawing gunslinger, he first joins the conquerors. As time passes, however, it rapidly becomes apparent that he really sides with the townsfolk, and when the time is right, he leads them into a violent uprising.
New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.
Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes to grips with his alcoholism. Along with a fellow alcoholic (James Garner) he forms a support group that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous.