Beaty (Dame Helen Mirren) is a prostitute working out of a high-class London cabaret where Emory (John Shea) is a technician. They begin an affair encumbered by her job, his lack of money, and their pasts: She has an abusive former lover, the father of her ten-year-old son and possibly her pimp, Alex (Paul Angelis), a strong-arm gorilla type fresh out of prison also arrives, needing a place to stay. Alex is clearly a brutish psychopath who threatens Beaty and Emory's future. Emory's wife died in questionable circumstances and he has a shady friend, Max (Murray Salem), who shows up with a scheme for making lots of money. Beaty and Emory want to sort things out, but the odds are against them. Life is no cabaret.