An intense heatwave marks the summer of 1974. Wooden doors warp in their frames and people are forced to sleep on the roofs of their buildings. Aged 54, Klara Sax is in the midst of a romantic fling with an “essentially artless” movie distributor and documentary maker named Miles Lightman. He is fascinated that Klara collects garbage and repurposes it for her art. They watch a documentary about the Rolling Stones going on tour in America and Klara meets Acey, another artist. She also meets an amateur art collector named Carlo Strasser, but she feels as though she has lost her artistic inspiration. Teresa, Klara’s daughter, visits while the garbage collectors are on strike, and the city streets are overwhelmed by the uncollected, rotting garbage. Klara feels awkward and depressed in her daughter’s company. She and Teresa do not have much of a relationship, and this saddens Klara. Esther, Klara’s art dealer friend, wants Klara to travel around the Bronx with her to track down a graffiti artist named Moonman 157. He is famous for graffitiing entire train carriages. They find one of the trains he has painted and then find an address where he may be residing.