Rheinhardt, a cynical drifter, gets a job as an announcer for right-wing radio station WUSA in New Orleans. Rheinhardt is content to parrot WUSA's reactionary editorial stance on the air, even if he doesn't agree with it. Rheinhardt finds his cynical detachment challenged by a lady friend, Geraldine, and by Rainey, a neighbor and troubled idealist who becomes aware of WUSA's sinister, hidden purpose. And when events start spinning out of control, even Rheinhardt finds he must take a stand.
Rheinhardt, a drunken drifter, collects a debt from his old friend Farley, a con man currently posing as a revivalist preacher in New Orleans, and learns from him that right-wing radio station WUSA is looking for an announcer. Later that night in a waterfront bar he meets Geraldine, who is trying to hustle a drunken sailor into buying her dinner; after Rheinhardt buys her a steak, she takes him to her roominghouse where they spend the night together. The next day he meets Bingamon, the radio station's owner, and is hired on the stipulation that he read reactionary editorials on the air. Soon he meets the naive and liberal Rainey, who has been unknowingly duped by Bingamon into taking part in a phony welfare investigation actually intended to create a backlash among whites. Rheinhardt, disturbed because he, too, is being manipulated, gets drunk, quarrels with Rainey, and then walks out on Geraldine. Later, after Rainey has learned the truth of the situation from black newspaperman Roosevelt Berry, WUSA sponsors a large political hate rally with gospel singers, a guest appearance by an aging cowboy star, and a demonstration by black militants outside the stadium. Rainey, now completely disillusioned, tries to assassinate Bingamon in front of the audience, but he hits one of the demagogue's assistants. As Rainey tries to escape, the hysterical crowd stomps him to death. Meanwhile, the gospel group, which is made up of Geraldine's hippie neighbors, fears that the riot will lead to drug arrests, and they give Geraldine their stash of marijuana. When the police discover the drugs and arrest her, Geraldine hangs herself in the jail cell. Rheinhardt learns the news from Geraldine's crippled friend, Philomene; after visiting the grave, he packs his bags and leaves the city.
