Главные герои — уже далеко не молодые супруги Майклс — после очередной ссоры, случившейся сразу после свадьбы их дочери, решают расстаться. С помощью друзей они пытаются начать новую жизнь.
Фильм снят по автобиографической книге юриста Бёртона Тёркиса и повествует о возникновении и крахе преступного синдиката, вошедшего в историю криминалистики под названием "Корпорация "Убийство"". Основные события разворачиваются в Бруклине 1930-х годов вокруг двух основных персонажей - могущественного главаря синдиката Лепке (Дэвид Стюарт) и выполнявшего его заказы жестокого убийцы Релеса (Питер Фальк). В отличие от таких фильмов, как "Крёстный отец" или "Однажды в Америке", этот фильм не романтизирует жизнь гангстеров, а лишь воспроизводит хронологию событий.
The mysterious Mrs. Eleanor Carter moves to Springville with her two teenage children Jimmy and Cathy. Eleanor makes friends with the town's social leader Mrs. Wellington, who supports her idea for a town youth center, and she is aided by Tom Griffith, the high school principal. At the town's annual picnic, to which Eleanor has bought a band, the town busy-body Eunice reveals what she had learned from Eleanor's past.
Following a live orchestra opening, emcee Eddie Garr greets the audience and tells them about his trip to Los Angeles, where out-of-work actors are always 'acting' while in their service-industry jobs. What follows is a cavalcade of wild and wacky performances.
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
Steve Morgan kills a man in a holdup and hitches a ride to Los Angeles with Fergie. At a gas station, they pick up two women. Encountering a roadblock, Morgan takes over and persuades the party to spend the night at an unoccupied beach house. The police close in as one by one, the others learn that Morgan is a killer.
An eight-year-old girl is an unwilling and disturbed witness of parental quarrels in her home, and when the parents finally secure a divorce, the judge decrees that the young girl live with her mother for eight months and her father the other four months. The divided life affects her both mentally and physically.
