Cassavetes follows the complicated lives of a group of middle class people living in LA and contains some startlingly raw performances from actors Lynn Carlin and John Marley as married couple Maria and Richard who both commit adultery to escape the misery of their loveless marriage. Richard begins an affair with high-class call girl Jeannie Rapp (Gena Rowlands, The Skeleton Key) and tells his wife that he wants a divorce. Maria, spurned by his rejection, falls into the arms of a carefree young drifter, Chet (Seymour Cassel, The Life Aquatic, In The Soup) but the affair only leaves her feeling suicidal.