Rheinhardt, a disc jockey and failed musician, rolls into New Orleans in the aftermath of Mardi Gras looking for work and another chance in life. What he finds is a women named Geraldine who is physically and psychically damaged by the men in her past, and a job that involves him with a right wing political movement. Sparked by the group's Patriotic Revival, the city erupts into a riot of madness, destruction and death that is a test of all Rheinhardt's fast talking survival skills.