Al Pacino puts in a career defining performance as Eli Wurman, a legendary New York PR man whose glory days are far behind him and whose life is coming apart at the seams. Lost in a blur of media, celebrity and politics, Eli's weakness for alcohol and pharmaceuticals may temporarily dull his senses, but nothing can take the edge off the dark realization that he has spent his life in the shadows.

But when a seemingly routine incident, involving a temperamental starlet (Leoni) and a world-famous movie star (O'Neal), leads him into the murky world of political conspiracy and murder, Eli ignores his deteriorating health and pours his manic energies into pleading, seducing, cajoling and recruiting Manhattan's movers and shakers to come out and support his cause. In the end, Eli discovers one undeniable truth: it's not who you are that matters, it's who you know...