A
drifter named Rheinhardt arrives in
New Orleans. Seeing a familiar name on a shelter, he goes inside and sees that his old acquaintance Farley is running a scam as a preacher. Farley owes Rheinhardt money and pays some of it. Rheinhardt goes to a bar, where he sees a woman named Geraldine threatened by a pimp who thinks that she is trying to turn tricks on his turf. Rheinhardt and Geraldine move in together, living in cheap housing surrounded by hippies. He gets a job at a
conservative talk radio station called WUSA. The owner, Matthew Bingamon, is a
white supremacist. He uses the station to spread
propaganda, with the constant refrain that something is wrong in the country and that things were better in the past. Rheinhardt reads the station's
reactionary editorials while he socializes with hippies who detest it. One of his neighbors is an earnest man named Morgan Rainey, whose job is to survey
welfare recipients. Rainey relies on a wealthy man named
Clotho to guide him to beneficiaries. Clotho introduces Rainey to several people who are scamming the welfare system. Rainey eventually discovers that Clotho is working for Bingamon, making sure that Rainey's survey finds rampant fraud. WUSA will then use that fraud as content for their editorials. The more that Rainey learns about Bingamon's machinations, the more horrified he becomes. When Bingamon hosts a hate rally, Rainey tries to assassinate him but shoots and kills another man instead. During the ensuing chaos, Rainey attempts to flee with his gun, but the crowd beats him to death. Rheinhardt is ordered to the lectern to calm the crowd, but he makes a speech that only adds to the din. As Geraldine flees the rally, she is arrested and found with
marijuana. Threatened with years in jail for felony possession, she hangs herself in a cell. Rheinhardt visits her grave before leaving town as cynical as he was when he arrived. ==Cast==