In 1976, a lower-middle-class teenager struggles to cope living with her neurotic family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.

The 16 years old amateur photographer Charles accidentally takes a photo of Laura - and falls in love with her, when he develops the picture. He finds out that she works as singer in a bar, but is about to be thrown out. Although rejected at first by the 23 years old, he wants to help her and starts an ad campaign behind her back... with unexpected results.

Garvey is a San Francisco pawnshop operator. His unemployed and criminal friends Dillard, Turtle and Weslake, team up with Boardwalk, a local pimp, to burgle Garvey's shop while the owner is out of town. During the elaborate planning process, Dillard falls for a Hispanic woman, the sister of a friend. Boardwalk is assigned to case a local apartment, where he meets and falls for the maid. Amidst all these romantic hijinks, Weslake puts together a burglary plan, which is executed by the makeshift gang.