In a bar in a nameless northern New Jersey burg, bar operator Charlie considers the hipper, competing establishment down the street a threat to his dwindling business and warns full-time drunk and regular Frankie not to go there or he'll be banished from Charlie's bar. Suddenly, a once-regular customer, Joey Parker, pops in unannounced. He has been absent from the local scene for seven years, and returns looking swanky in his black leather coat. Charlie assumes that Joey has made it big in showbiz. It appears that Joey's return was prompted by his decision to propose to his old girlfriend, but he soon discovers that she has become a low-life addict and hooker.