Sometime-blues singer, sometime-stripper Shay is trapped in a destructive relationship with Radio, a jealous, guitar-strumming slacker who lives off Shay but provides her little in the way of emotional comfort and support. Shay and Radio cling to each other within the claustrophobic confines of a run-down apartment, locked together in an often-violent obsession where heroin eases the pain of their fast-wasting lives, yet neither have the strength or maturity to realize the futility of their existence together. Shay's only escape is her music, which she celebrates through the good graces of her only true friend, a blues club trumpeter named Harry. In front of a microphone, in a voice hauntingly reminiscent of Janis Joplin, Shay comes alive and finds a channel for her anguish and fears. But when the music is over, Shay returns to her savage world and dead-end life with Radio.