1959. Twenty-seven year old Vinnie Vacarri works as a waiter at his older brother Mario's upscale Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, but much to Mario's chagrin, Vinnie lets work at the restaurant slide whenever opportunities arise to achieve his dream of being in the music business. Along with his best friend and music partner, pianist Gino Pilato, Vinnie writes songs, and believes he has everything but the most important thing to make it big, namely the look, he most self-conscious about his receding hairline. As such, he and Gino are looking for someone to perform their songs on their own terms. He thinks he's found the person in his friend Tomaso DeLorusso, a saxophonist who has been struggling himself in the club scene to find his niche. With Gino largely staying in the background, Vinnie begins a professional association with Tomaso, who he reinvents as rock singer Tommy Dee, this the beginning of Vinnie's foray into talent manager, he knowing the look and sound he wants, with his acts being the conduit to realize his own dreams of music business success. He also believes a sixteen year old shy busboy at Mario's restaurant named Guido Bevaloqua has the look to make it big, Guido who Vinnie transforms into Caesare. Along the way, Vinnie has convince others into his vision for the transformations to succeed, such people as Brenda Roberts, the editor of Teen Scene magazine. Ultimately both Vinnie and his acts get lost in their own personal issues, Tommy Dee and Caesare wanting primarily the trappings of fame forgetting how they got there, and Vinnie sacrificing his and everyone else's lives to achieve his visions that he could not achieve on his own.