Celebrity musician Eric Wood plans to record an album of songs written by Carroll Barber, Keith Carradine who has been living in England. Viveca Lindfors as Susan Moore, Carroll's aging manager, brings Carroll to Los Angeles for the recording sessions and rents him a house from real estate agent Ann Goode Sally Kellerman. Ann is unhappily married to furniture store owner Jack Goode [John Considine], who is pursuing their young housemaid Linda Murray [Sissy Spacek], while Linda herself harbors a crush on Ken Hood [Harvey Keitel], a married young executive.
Carroll’s arrival ignites a web of tangled relationships. He visits his wealthy father Carl Barber [Denver Pyle], who, with Ken Hood, has turned the Barber dairy into a thriving business. Carroll then embarks on a string of romantic entanglements with Jeannette Ross [Diahnne Abbott], and Nona Bruce [Lauren Hutton], revealing his notorious penchant for fleeting affairs rather than meaningful connections. The family business and the allure of Los Angeles mingle with personal desires, creating a volatile mix of ambition, appetite, and ambition’s price.
Ken works long hours at the Barber operation, neglecting his wife Karen Hood [Geraldine Chaplin], a housewife who is obsessed with taxi rides and the Greta Garbo film Camille. One night, while Carroll is driving and drinking through the city, he randomly encounters Karen and brings her to his home. When he tries to romance her, she discloses she is married and departs, though she later leaves him her telephone number, while refusing to take his subsequent calls. Linda, who has moved into Carroll’s spare room, invites Ken to visit her there, where he also meets Ann.
Just before Christmas, Ken learns that Carl has made him a partner in the business, heightening Karen’s anxiety about his growing workload. On Christmas Eve, Ken gets drunk and calls Ann, but the date goes awry as Ken cannot stop thinking about his wife. Meanwhile, Jack and Linda spend the evening together, which ends badly when Linda asks Jack for money. Jack and Ann, disappointed in their own arrangements, end up having sex.
Susan reveals to Carroll that Eric does not like his songs and that she and Carroll’s father bribed Eric to record the album in order to lure Carroll to Los Angeles. Both Susan and Carl had hoped to cultivate their own relationships with Carroll, but his lack of response thwarts those plans. Karen, the one person who seems to capture Carroll’s interest, finally arrives at his home, just as they are about to connect. Ken phones, upset and seeking his wife, and Carroll realizes Karen is Ken’s wife and mostly interested in him, so he leaves while Karen and Ken reconcile on the phone. Linda, listening in, overhears Ken’s voice and the familiar assurances he gave to Linda earlier. She quietly disconnects the line, then attempts to bond with Karen, who imitates Garbo’s Camille. In the end, Carroll goes to the recording studio and discovers that Eric Wood has decided not to finish the album, leaving the project unresolved and the characters to confront the consequences of their tangled desires.
