A portrait of the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is becoming increasingly numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse.

With a magnificent blend of pop, jazz and blues, Burnett's carefully selected soundtrack often contrasts the beauty of the music of Dinah Washington, George Gershwin, Earth, Wind & Fire or Rachmaninov with the gritty realism of what's shown on screen.