The film portrays the tumultuous Hollywood romance between a down and out Frank Sinatra and MGM's protege starlet, Ava Gardner. In 1949 Sinatra, the former king of swoon to millions of screaming "bobby soxers", was at the downturn as a vocal cord hemorrhage compromised the once golden "Voice" while tabloids further marginalized him by parading his alleged Mafia connections, liberal sympathies, and extramarital affairs. In the midst of his despair, he falls hard and fast for Gardner, with whom he shares proclivities for passion, whiskey, and sexual escapades. Frank's pursuit of Ava is matched only by his obsession to get cast as Angelo Maggio in Columbia Picture's From Here to Eternity; the sole ray of hope in salvaging his career. Sinatra actively campaigns for Maggio while divorcing his wife and entering a hapless marriage with Gardner that is marked by infidelities, Ava's abortions and Frank's suicide attempts while the press, led by notorious pundits such as Hedda Hopper, feasted.