An angry coffeehouse poet meets an attractive, conservative publisher, who is interested in his work. She wants him to enter the Los Angeles Poetron, a contest where poetry is read competitively. Jake rejects the idea because he believes poetry is an art and not a competition. But the beautiful Marni sways Jake—it’s love at first sight.

When Anita, the police commissioner's wife, is found dead and disfigured in the bathtub, Lieutenant Braque initiates an all-out manhunt to find the commissioner.