In this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's final, unfinished novel, Monroe Stahr (Robert De Niro) is a legendary hollywood producer hailed as a "boy genius" during the studio system of 1930s Hollywood. Stahr blithely contends with neurotic stars (Tony Curtis, Jeanne Moreau), a union organizer (Jack Nicholson), his adversary (Robert Mitchum), a difficult writer (Donald Pleasence), and his mysterious girlfriend (Ingrid Boulting), but his relentless micromanaging may be his undoing.