Photographer Barnard Jacobs is dying and Ashley, the woman he loves, won't admit her feelings for him. She's too wrapped up in her cocaine addiction and desire to find a wealthy husband. When fashionista Madeleine begs Barnard to call Ashley for drugs, a party develops. Madeline pairs off with a rich tech executive named Boccaccio. Barnard goes home, where Ashley, seeking peace and solitude, joins him. In flashback, Barnard recalls how his best friend Pickering hired him to take photos of women's eyes. He hired Ashley and the two forged a deep connection. Back in the present, Boccaccio and Madeleine do drugs and become removed from the world. As Barnard learns death is near, he reaches out to Ashley in a final attempt to save both of them.
In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.
Young Augusten Burroughs absorbs experiences that could make for a shocking memoir: the son of an alcoholic father and an unstable mother, he's handed off to his mother's therapist, Dr. Finch, and spends his adolescent years as a member of Finch's bizarre extended family.