In the heat of a west coast summer three very different women, each poised for success, find themselves failing spectacularly. At first they hide their downfalls - bankruptcy, addiction, promiscuity - from one another, but as the curtain-twitching world they inhabit begins to intrude, they find their secrets exposed.

Claudia and Jeremy, a young married couple (she s an aspiring filmmaker, he s an indie musician), are on the verge of making it. Her first film was a sensation at Sundance and is about to have its theatrical release; he s assembled a new band and is a few songs shy of an album. They ve recently purchased their first home a mid-century bungalow with a breathtaking view of Los Angeles with the magical assistance of an adjustable-rate mortgage. But a series of seismic events the tanking of Claudia s film, the return of Jeremy s manipulative ex-girlfriend, and the staggering adjustment of their...