Xenia, Ohio, is a small poor and boring city that never fully recovered after a tornado in the 1970s. Teenager Solomon and his slightly older friend Tummler, have nothing to do but kill time, buying glue to sniff and get high.
In a post-apocalyptic society, Henry Spencer (John Nance) works in a factory and has a girlfriend, Mary (Charlotte Stewart). When she gets pregnant, she moves to his apartment and delivers a mutant baby, who cries all the time. She can not bear the screams of the child, living Henry, who is on vacation, taking care of the newborn child and driving him insane.
Married actress Nikki (Dern) is offered a role in a motion picture which is to be directed by Kingsley (Irons), Nikki's co-star is called Devon (Theroux). Nikki's role is Sue, Devon's is Billy, but they end up winding into bed with each other. They're calling each other the names of their characters in the movie. From here on, it is impossible to tell if Nikki is actually Nikki or Sue...