Having lost his girlfriend Melody to another man and most of his life savings due to careless investments by his broker, Fields heads west to Santa Monica, where he operates a wax museum until he's offered a film role.

While at a party with his friends John Barrymore, Gene Fowler and restaurant owner Dave Chasen, Fields is introduced to starlet Carlotta Monti, whom he hires as a live-in secretary.

The studio boss Harry Bannerman decides she has some talent, but Fields threatens to quit Paramount Pictures unless she is discouraged from pursuing a career in films.

Although hurt by the revelation, Carlotta resigns herself to a life of unwedded bliss that often crumbles into sorrow and frustration as the relentlessly mean-spirited Fields continues to drink heavily and as his health steadily declines.

[1] The mansion used for this film was located at 700 Berkshire Avenue, LaCanada Flintridge, Los Angeles County, and it previously was owned by William Joseph Connery, a silent-movie era independent movie producer.

In his review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby called the film "dreadful" and added "It holds up a wax dummy of a character intended to represent the great misanthropic comedian and expects us to feel compassion but only traps us in embarrassment...the movie needn't have been quite as brainless as it is.