Queenie, a vaudeville showgirl, hosts the "wild" party with her vicious lover, Burrs. The guests are a vivid collection of the unruly and the undone, whose stories explore themes of racism, sexism, and the undying search for the American Dream. The jazz- and gin- soaked party rages to a mounting sense of threat as artifice and illusion are stripped away. When midnight debauchery leads to tragedy at dawn, the high-flying characters land with a sobering thud, reminding us that no party lasts forever.