In the 50's, Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth) are the most beloved entertainers in America. A classic duo - Lanny is the manic comedian, while Vince is his cool and collected straight man-the boys know how to make audiences roar with laughter at their jokes, or shed tears at one of their famous telethons. They are at the top of their game, wealthy, powerful, and enormously popular, when something terrible happens to threaten their success.

Inexplicably, a dead beauty turns up in their hotel suite. Their reputations are sullied but, thanks to rock-solid alibis, neither is charged with the crime. Their partnership, on the other hand, is destroyed. Lanny and Vince manage to salvage separate careers, but years pass, with neither speaking to the other, or to anyone else, about the girl's death. The reason for the break-up of Morris and Collins becomes one of show business' greatest mysteries.

Fifteen years later, in the 1970's, up and coming writer Karen O'Connor (Alison Lohman), decides to turn this cold case into a hot story. This includes the discovery of a kinky menage-a-trois that may have led to a murder, Karen unravels a serpentine, shocking tale of talent and treachery, love and lust, buried secrets and betrayed trust.