Marcus Rottner [Michael Brandon], a 24-year-old heir to his late grandfather Max Rottner [Lou Gilbert]'s fortune, lives in a Palisades apartment in New Jersey when he discovers his hippie girlfriend Jennifer Da Silva [Tippy Walker] dead from a heroin overdose in his living room. Fearing arrest, he contemplates dumping the body, but his sister Selma Rottner [Renée Taylor] and her psychologist boyfriend Sergei Wasserman [Peter Bonerz] arrive unannounced, sensing something is terribly off. They search the apartment but find nothing, leaving Marcus rattled and paranoid about the mounting suspicion around him.
In a series of flashbacks, the film traces how Marcus and Jennifer first met in Venice, where her wild, carefree energy immediately attracts him and her smile seems to promise escape from his orderly life. She then leaves Europe with her parents, and he follows her to Oyster Bay, New York, the two briefly date, and then she cuts all ties. Heartbroken, Marcus returns to Venice, hoping to rekindle what they had; on her birthday he confronts her again and discovers she is deep in heroin use, injecting the drug with two minstrels Barry Bostwick and Jeff Conaway.
Marcus attempts to intervene, but the situation spirals as Jennifer, still tethered to the thrill of danger, jumps from a rooftop in a moment of despair. He tries to coax her away from addiction and, convinced by his own desperation, urges her to come back to Venice, while she grows bored with him and longs for life in New York. In the Venetian Ghetto he receives a final message—a recording in which she explains she cannot be with him—and the distance between them widens.
Back on the Lower East Side, Marcus searches for a way to disappear the grim reality of what happened. He seeks advice from Sigmund Ornstein [Steve Vinovich], a friend who gives him a fictional, even literary solution on how to dispose of a body. He blindly follows the counsel and drives toward a river, only to be briefly intercepted by three Hells Angels [Allan F. Nicholls], [Michael McClanathan], and [Ralph J. Pinto] who taunt him and finally disperse as two police officers on motorcycles arrive. He escapes, recounting to himself that this is the most time he has ever spent with Jenny, a transient connection that continues to haunt him.
Months later, Marcus is drawn back into New Jersey, where Jennifer unexpectedly reappears, claiming she has traveled the world but still hasn’t found her place. She asks to stay awhile, and he welcomes her in, though the tension underneath suggests nothing will ever be simple again.
A tense dinner scene unfolds as Jennifer secretly places several prescribed capsules into a blender of chocolate milk and drinks them. While Marcus sets the table on the balcony, she feverishly prepares a needle over the stove and then climbs onto the railing. He lunges to pull her down, and she begs him to inject the syringe of heroin. He does, and the overdose seals her fate.
Pursued by danger, Marcus flees in his car as men in pursuit collide with a brutal crash. Jennifer’s body lies in the trunk as the car bursts into flames, and Marcus escapes, his world narrowed to a white-clad, surreal return to Venice—the place that began the whole, dangerous spiral.
