Happy is a talented teenage graffiti muralist with a passion for spray paint and Hip Hop. Her playground is the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River. While painting a mural of her trademark Payasa, a sad-faced Lady Clown, she encounters Sal, a mentally challenged homeless man who attempts to make contact with her. Unable to communicate with Happy, Sal then crosses paths with Avo, a vintage camera repairman living with his wife Allegra on the East Bank of the river. Their apartment overlooks Happy’s Payasa mural near the area where their 4-year old daughter Heidi recently drowned. Since Heidi’s death, Avo and Allegra have not spoken. As Happy toils on the Payasa, Avo attempts to reconcile with his wife in the wake of the family tragedy. A block away from Avo’s apartment, Ridley is a struggling blues guitarist staying in an old hotel by the river. He has returned temporarily to Los Angeles to care for his mother. One night, Ridley hears an enigmatic voice coming from somewhere inside the hotel. Haunted by its mysterious presence, Ridley sets out to discover the source of the voice, running into Sal in the wake of a hit-and-run accident. Humphrey is an aging pensioner living in an apartment overlooking the ‘islands’ in the river. One morning he wakes up to the sound of Sal screaming on the sidewalk. Having recently lost his wife Ethel, Humphrey spends his days eating lunch by her grave, a few feet from Heidi’s resting place where he sees Allegra. Unsure when his time will come, Humphrey readjusts to everyday life, crossing paths with Happy as he wanders the riverside neighborhood.