The story begins at the death scene just after the shooting: Reeves' house in Benedict Canyon, where the 45-year-old Reeves, who's played with confidence and vulnerability by Ben Affleck, has gone upstairs and, with any warning to anyone, blew his brains out.

The film illustrates how Reeves came to this situation; from the time he met his lover, Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), who is married to Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), a thuggish MGM executive who tolerated his wife's affair as a balance to his own indiscretions against her. Played brilliantly by Lane - who ages herself 15 or 20 years - Toni just can't stand up to her husband.

But neither can Simo (Adrien Brody), a semi-sleazy private eye who worms his way into investigating what might not have been a suicide. He gets a tip from a colleague that Reeves' mother believes her son was murdered, and he sneaks into her confidence by garnering publicity for the theory. But the closer he gets to what he believes is the truth, the more dangerous his situation becomes. But he drinks too much, exasperates his ex-wife (Molly Parker) and is unprepared to deal with the problems of his son (Zach Mills).