Richard Lawrence is a Southern novelist in his early thirties living in New York City. After he runs out of money from the book he published, he reluctantly takes a job teaching poetry at a university. He lives in Greenwich Village with Fauna, his waifish, twenty-year-old lover. She's an idealistic dancer who dreams of moving to Kentucky and living a simple life with Richard. The two often spend time with another couple: Hampden and Regina. Hampden is a conservative, Missisippi-born publishing executive who speaks in bigoted tirades interspersed with literature references. He worked his way from rags to relative riches with no college degree. His wife, Regina, hails from a wealthy family, and has a PhD. Hampden comes to resent Regina’s education and money, and he pursues a relationship with a mistress named Margery. Meanwhile, Fauna’s disillusionment leads her to cheat on Richard, and she becomes addicted to heroin. Exasperated, he breaks up with her. One day, Hampden gets belligerently drunk. Richard calls Margery to warn her, and Hampden mistakenly thinks that Richard is trying to make a pass at her. On the way to confront him, Hampden gets involved in a race riot and attacks a Black man. In the ensuing chaos, he is stabbed in the street and dies. Richard expresses his love for Hampden and Fauna as he meditates on the unending and indiscriminate violence of humanity.