It's the 1950s New York. The livelihood of successful television writer Alfred Miller is threatened when he is blacklisted, there no official recourse as the blacklist does not officially exist despite the very real consequences of those in power not hiring those on the blacklist. Such is the case with the producer of Alfred's show, Phil Sussman, who is unwilling to make waves against the network or the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) by retaining Communists or suspected Communists like Alfred. To get around the problem, Alfred, knowing that he cannot just write under a pseudonym, asks his childhood friend, Howard Prince, to be his front in submitting Alfred's scripts for the show under Howard's name. Howard, who works a low paying job as a tavern night cashier, accepts Alfred's offer for a small but still lucrative percentage as he is deep in debt in his side job as a bookie, and figures it's easy money. Initially, it being easy money does seem to be the case as Sussman and the show's script editor, Florence Barrett, love the scripts and don't seem to suspect anything. In fact, Howard wants Alfred to find more blacklisted writers for who to front, and Florence, despite already being in a relationship, seems to be falling for Howard largely due to the quality of his writing. All these items lead to Howard ending up rich and famous. Things begin to get complicated for Howard when the network, without telling him, wants to find out more about him, he a writer they had never heard of before mysteriously landing on their doorstep with these great scripts. An added complication is when Sussman is forced to fire larger than life lead actor Hecky Brown from the show for suspicions of he being a Communist, Hecky whose sole crime in this matter being in the wrong places at the wrong times in chasing after a girl. When Howard is eventually subpoenaed to testify in front of HUAC, he has to decide how best to handle the situation to protect himself, and to protect people like Alfred who he begins to feel are being persecuted for no good reason.—Huggo