Bel Air, California, 1926. Wearing practically nothing, Nellie LaRoy, a streetwise nobody and brassy wannabe starlet, crashes an orgiastic, sex-and-drug-fuelled Hollywood party looking for her big break and a chance to shine. At the same time, starry-eyed Mexican kid Manny Torres is eager to do anything for a job on a movie set--the most magical place in the world. Then, there's Sidney Palmer, a brilliant up-and-coming African-American jazz trumpeter, and the captivating cabaret singer Lady Fay Zhu--both tiny cogs in the well-oiled movie industry. But they don't know it yet. And as Nellie becomes an overnight sensation and Manny crosses paths with silver-screen heartthrob Jack Conrad, the biggest A-lister of the silent era, the trio is about to discover how expendable stars can be. Because, cruel as it may sound, the allure of Tinseltown is irresistible and inescapable. Then again, so are the snares of Babylon.—Nick Riganas