Aspiring musician, Billy, grows up in the glamour of sixties Liverpool dreaming of stardom. Hopes fade when he gets a girl pregnant and is hastily married. Seeking honest work at sea, his ship sinks with Billy presumed dead. When he returns, he finds his wife with another man but finds himself in jail after the ensuing quarrel.

Encouraged by his glamorous small-time gangster cousin, Duke, Billy resumes his entertainment career and travels to London. There he falls in love with a precocious secretary of a publishing agent with a dark past. She recognises his talent and opts to help him.

Riding high, Billy returns to Liverpool, agreeing to one last job for Duke. The job goes wrong and Billy accidentally kills a man. Duke goes down for the murder and wracked with guilt, Billy never returns to Missy or his music.

This is a ballad of excess, success, and the pursuit of power.