A flamboyant Atlantic City police detective has come to watch a heavyweight championship fight and cash in on the hectic betting action. Suddenly, gunfire cuts down a ringside government official, and 14,000 fans become 14,000 suspects.

This is not a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy: it is about the deeply gifted and flawed people behind a dark and difficult masterpiece; New York City in a troubled time of cultural ferment; and the era that made a movie and the movie that made an era.