New York buildings, tilt down to band playing in street, group on street talking including Alan Brunton. Man practising on guitar, stops abruptly and opens window, camera focuses on couple greeting each other in street, camera focuses back on guitarist. Three women eating in cafe, guitarist busks outside on street, Japanese man gives busker money. Conversation of women about speaking Japanese. Woman in red coat walks out of cafe and buys feathers.
\Woman in red coat and guitarist enter apartment up stairs. Woman and man sit down, man hands woman science fiction book, woman falls backwards. Man offers woman drinks and says he will make some soup. Man washes pot and sings, woman stands behind him, camera pans into reflection. Man cuts up onions and carrots, throws carrot top behind him, asks the woman if she would like to smoke a joint. Man prepares joint out of dregs of marijuana, and talks about getting kicked out of his band. The pair smoke the joint drink alcohol. The woman then leaves abruptly. Man runs after her down street.
Three men in trench coats on street corner smoking, including man in white coat [Alan Brunton]. Man in white coat gives pamphlet to woman with children, boy puts on mask and jumps up and down, woman yells ‘hey’ as man grabs him. Man with black valise arrives on street corner and one man in trench coat takes item from valise. Musician steals black valise, men in trench coats follow him. Man climbs over fence with black valise, followed by men in trench coats. Guitarist escapes down rail track, while men in trench coats yell after him. Guitarist goes back to his flat, then we see him at a bar. Man sells valise to man from bar in woman’s toilet, woman protests and altercation follows. Guitarist takes black valise back and runs away.
Man and woman [Jean McAllister] in flat, man says he has work to do and leaves. Woman makes phone call. Guitarist meets woman in red coat in street and hands her flowers, second man walks away. Musicians catch train. Street shots, buildings. Guitarist and woman in red coat settle in apartment watching television, drinking alcohol and snorting drugs
[heroin].
Woman [Jean McAllister] sings in bar. Guitarist in bed has nightmares. Woman leaves and goes to purchase [medicine] from [Spanish] shop. Woman returns home, but sees a man waiting outside, and runs in opposite direction.
SEPIA (Dream sequence) Footage of [student] protest in street. Guitarist runs through forest carrying valise, buries valise in forest, person is watching so he runs away. Woman holds candle vigil, man tries to hand her valise. Woman lights candles in guitarist’s room, tires to revive him. Guitarist wakes up. Woman pours substance over man’s head, and he chases her around the flat. The guitarist and the woman talk about escaping. The guitarist decides to sell the valise again.
The pair buy a book, they are watched by man in trench coat. Two hitmen drive off in car. Man in bath answers phone and is told they have found the man who stole the black valise. Woman and guitarist enter travel agent and ask for two tickets to Outer Mongolia. The guitarist offers the contents of the black valise as payment. The agent rings the original buyer of the suitcase. The couple run from the travel agents and are pursued. The woman throws one assailant into the path of a train. A fight ensues between the woman and the man the valise was originally stolen from. The woman knocks him out and grabs the valise and throws it into the path of a train. A man with a gun takes away the guitarist at gunpoint. Meanwhile a man on the street picks up the valise. The three men in trench coats meet in front of a high rise. The guitarist wanders dazed through the snow.
Back in his apartment, the guitarist plays the guitar and the woman in the red coat meets a man in the street outside. Musicians play on the street. We return to the opening scenes.