In a dystopian near future, America is a dark, fascist, fundamentalist dictatorship ruled by tyrannical villain, Dr. Righteous. All rock music is banned as evil, and whomever listens to it is deemed a rebel and persecuted. Robert Orrin Charles Kilroy (whose acronym tongue-in-cheekily spells R.O.C.K.), once the biggest rock star in America, is in prison serving life for the murder of an anti-rock zealot during concert. His greatest fan, a young rebel named Jonathan Chance (whose acronym spells J.C. intentionally or not just like Jesus Christ), hacks into Dr. Righteous' broadcasting signal and plays a sample of Kilroy's music to show that rebellion is alive. This motivates Kilroy to rebel against his Japanese robot guards and contact Jonathan. At the Paradise Theater, Jonathan Chance from the Music Underground, and Robert Kilroy, who broke out of prison to see Chance, meet, and Kilroy relates the events of the final concert at the Paradise, the night he was framed for murder. The short sets up the plot for the concept album/rock opera Kilroy Was Here by the rock band Styx. The album and the protagonist are named after the famous eponymous World War II graffiti in-joke, 'Kilroy was here'.