Babylon

In Bel Air, 1926, Manuel "Manny" Torres is organizing the haphazard transport of an elephant to a debauched bacchanal at the mansion of his employer, Kinoscope Studios boss Don Wallach. Witnessing this event rife with sex, jazz, and cocaine, Manny becomes smitten with Nellie LaRoy, a brash, ambitious self-declared "star" from New Jersey. Himself the son of impoverished Mexican refugees, Manny shares his dream with her—to be part of something "bigger". He helps carry away young actress Jane Thornton, who overdosed on drugs with actor Orville Pickwick, having the elephant walk through to distract partygoers.