Adam, a brilliant trumpet player, is burdened with guilt following a car accident in which his wife and child were killed. He finds happiness briefly with another woman but turns to drink and is wrongly convicted as a drug-addict when arrested after a drunken brawl. Desperate for money, his agent books him a series of one-night stands and one night, while playing a farewell number with the band, Adam collapses. The audience believe him to be drunk but in fact it is his final curtain.