New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.
Toward the end of his life F. Scott Fitzgerald is writing for Hollywood studios to be able to afford the cost of an asylum for his wife. He is also struggling against alcoholism. Into his life comes the famous gossip columnist.
After attending their friend Elise's wedding to Nate on New Year's Eve, Trista, a career-driven talent agent, Viviane, a successful gossip columnist, and Amaya, a struggling actress, make a pact to get married within the year to either a new love or a man waiting in the wings. But the close friends face their own set of challenges - Trista has not gotten over her commitment-phobic ex-boyfriend Damon, Viviane is secretly in love with Sean, the father of her son, and Amaya is desperate to break up her boyfriend Keith's unhappy marriage so they can live happily ever after. Each woman starts the year with high hopes and dreams of what will happen over the next 12 months... but will they all make it to the altar?
Elaine Bradford is a young singer and dancer, looking for her big break. Peter Carlton is a gossip columnist facing a deadline and a blank page. So, Peter invents "Mrs. Smythe-Smythe", a mysterious Englishwoman who spends her days hunting tigers in India, jumping out of airplanes, and generally driving men mad with her beauty. Since no one in London has ever seen Mrs. Smythe-Smythe, Elaine decides to impersonate the lady, in hopes that the publicity will land her the big break she's been looking for.
Cub reporter Daniel Greely gets a job on a big city newspaper. A string of robberies occur and the owner of the paper blames the police for not rounding up the crooks. Daniel discovers that a coded message in the newspaper's editor's box tips the crooks about each robbery.
Jimmy McNamara is an ex-writer and WWII vet turned accountant who receives a call from Vivian, his ex-fiance and nightclub singer. Vivian got a Hollywood contract and is taking Jimmy with her. All he has to do is retrieve the negatives of compromising pictures that put her bright future in danger. But Jimmy's mission might not be as simple as it seems.
A gossip columnist's rise to fame. Based closely on the real life of Walter Winchell.
Narrator Hopper covers two war benefit affairs, a garden party and a USO fashion show, at Pickfair, "The White House of Hollywood."