Jack Nicholson is dog trainer Eugene Earl Axline, who becomes involved with his client, classical singer Joan Spruance (Ellen Barkin), and is drawn into a web of intrigue that includes blackmail, a gangster (Harry Dean Stanton), and his sexy but talkative girlfriend (Beverly D'Angelo). There’s no skin here, but we do get the quickest of glimpses at the side of Beverly’s D’Angelobes.