 Three men, reared together in New Orleans, but whose paths have drifted apart, each face a crisis during the last weekend of Mardi Gras: Dr. Jason Kent (Gig Young) must decide between accepting a chance to become famous as a research scientist, which will mean leaving New Orleans and giving up the girl he loves, Susan Corvier (Janice Rule), or staying in his father s practice among the poor; Father Victor Carducci (Richard Anderson) is refused permission to open an independent clinic and is thinking of leaving the Church; Punch-drunk prizefighter Joe Piavi (Keenan Wynn) is mainly operating in a survival mode and is trying to collect $1500 owed to him by his former manager Mike Hennighan (Ralph Dumke.) When he finds out about the debt, brash reporter Danny Farber (William Campbell), not above a double-cross when it means gain for him, needles Hennighan about Joe, and then tells Joe that Henninghan is threatening to send him to an asylum. The paths of Jason, Father Carducci and J!