Zee is walking up and down Manhattan streets, talking to herself and to the husband who has just left her. At a sidewalk café she runs into Eli, and a very unlikely, funny and touching relationship develops between two lost souls in the big city.
A young girl is accidentally run down by a car driven by a careless city slicker. This careless injustice provokes the girl's grandfather into summoning his mystical powers and placing a death curse on the young man. Desperate to stave off the dire consequences of the hex, Barry seeks the counsel of a local psychic medium
Brooks Wilson is in crisis. He is torn between his wife Selma and two daughters and his mistress Grace, and also between his career as a successful illustrator and his feeling that he might still produce something worthwhile.
After runaway Ben Young is robbed and left on his own, he is taken in by Lil, the head of a Chicago brothel. Acting as a surrogate mother for Ben, who thinks she runs a boardinghouse, Lil gets him a job with Francis Sullivan at the local newspaper. As Ben is exposed to the workings of the big city, he realizes the extent of government corruption and sets out on the daunting task of reforming Chicago politics, finding several allies along the way.
Earthlings chafe at the peace established by a benevolent alien race and set about to rebel.