After winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Michael Glendower is drawn into the corrupt and twisted heart of Hollywood. Running afoul of criminal elements, he enters politics, founding his own micronation in an attempt at Western revival. But are his efforts to prove Spengler wrong a waste of time? Is he merely putting lipstick on a pig? Meanwhile his old bandmate, Shiv, after hellish travails, attempts against all odds to start a family, only to find the system more against him than ever. The two mismatched friends must once more work together, as the rising tide of populism forces each to examine what he really believes.