Actress Myrtle Gordon is a functioning alcoholic who is a few days from the opening night of her play, concerning a woman distraught about aging. After one of Myrtle’s fans is killed in a car accident while trying to get her attention, she internalizes the tragedy and goes on a spiritual quest.

All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are in a perpetual state of crisis in John Cassavetes’s soul-baring portrait of the acting life. Supporting Gena Rowlands’s electrifying performance is the legendary Joan Blondell, whose presence draws a profound link between Old and New Hollywood.