In the toughest section of San Francisco sit a parade of eccentrics sipping drinks in a bar. Enter Joe, a champagne-soaked "philosopher" with a credo that mixes equal parts cherish-the-moment and bottoms-up. Parading around Joe, who loves the common folk, are a bull-slinging American Indian, a would-be dancer, a prostitute who dreams of white picket fences and a garden, and Joe's handyman, Tom. These and other colourful people espouse their hopes and fears, until the barkeeper announces, "Last Call."

The William Saroyan play on which this film is based won both the New York Critics Circle award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.