Lady Divine, Divine, runs The Cavalcade of Perversion, a free exhibit of various perversions, fetishes, and obscenities—famously including the grotesque “Puke Eater.” Admission is free, but the performers must persuade, and sometimes physically drag, reluctant passersby inside to witness their rough, bawdy showcase. At the end of each night, Lady Divine returns to the stage to rob the audience at gunpoint, a routine that her lover Mr. David, David Lochary, initially notes as successful. Yet Divine grows bored with the nightly pattern and resolves to escalate from robbery to murder, turning the finale into a spree that leaves patrons dead and shaken. After fleeing the scene, she heads home to Cookie Divine, Cookie Mueller, her prostitute daughter, and her new boyfriend Steve, Paul Swift, a member of the Weather Underground, who occupies a tense place in this volatile household.
A call from Edith, Edith Massey, the proprietor of a nearby bar, interrupts the uneasy domestic rhythm. Edith reports that Mr. David had been at her bar with another woman, Bonnie, Mary Vivian Pearce, prompting Lady Divine to rush to the scene. On the way, Divine is assaulted and raped by two glue-sniffers, an event that compounds her burgeoning sense of frenzy. Meanwhile, Mr. David and Bonnie—desperate to seize a slot in the troupe—continue their own brutal trysts at the home David shares with Divine, with Bonnie taking a forceful role in their intimate acts. The atmosphere of betrayal, yearning, and danger thickens as Divine’s trauma collides with the couple’s clandestine plans.
As if drawn by a dark providence, the Infant of Prague, Michael Renner Jr., appears and guides Divine toward a church. Inside the sacred space, she prays, yet she is soon approached and seduced by Mink, Mink Stole, a new and dangerous ally. The two women become lovers, sharing a charged, transgressive moment in a church pew, with Mink even inserting a rosary in Divine’s body while recounting the Stations of the Cross. Their blossoming alliance shifts the dynamics of the night toward murder, and the two set their sights on Mr. David and Bonnie in Edith’s bar.
They arrive with a calculated coolness, but David and Bonnie have already fled, deciding that Divine must be eliminated to protect themselves. David returns to Cookie’s house, hoping to finish Divine off, only to find Cookie and Ricky, Rick Morrow, there instead. A furious confrontation ensues, and Bonnie accidentally kills Cookie. The assailants bind Ricky and stash Cookie’s corpse just as Divine and Mink return. Bonnie’s attempt to shoot Divine is thwarted when Divine lunges, killing Bonnie with a knife, and then turning on Mr. David to eviscerate him, cannibalizing his internal organs in a moment of unhinged frenzy. Ricky’s sudden appearance shocks Mink, who is then shot by him. In a burst of rage and humiliation, Divine accuses Mink of betrayal and stabs her, and Divine’s horror deepens when she discovers Cookie’s body hidden behind the couch.
Exhausted and unmoored, Divine collapses onto a couch, only to be raped again, this time by a giant lobster. The aftermath finds her muttering under her breath, “You’re a maniac now, Divine,” as she destroys a car and wanders Baltimore, stalking anyone she can reach. The National Guard appears, surrounds her on the street, and fires, ending the night in a hail of gunfire set to the anthem of America the Beautiful.
