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Fact-based story about the court proceedings that followed Cincinnati art museum director Dennis Barrie after his decision to display a controversial art exhibit by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The proceedings start with an inflamed County Sheriff who is determined to put Barrie in jail. A grand jury established to determine whether the sexually explicit photographs were obscene found seven of the pictures to possibly be obscene. The seven pictures depicted nude children, a man ramming his fist up another man's anus, and man with his finger in his penis. Other pictures in the exhibit did depict explicit nudity and sexual connotation. An obviously biased judge made derisive decisions throughout the trial. The strain of the trial also placed Barrie's marriage under duress, which ultimately led to his wife divorcing him, and led to Barrie's children being derided and physically attacked by their classmates.

Rusty James（马特·狄龙 Matt Dillon 饰）是一个无所事事的小混混，有一天他接受了另一个帮派头领的Biff Wilcox的挑战，约定在晚上两人单挑。Rusty和他的女友Patty（戴安·琳恩 Diane Lane 饰）和几个朋友来到了停车场。Rusty击败了Biff，而Biff却使诈用刀刺伤了Rusty。这个时候，Rusty的哥哥摩托车手（米基·洛克 Mickey Rourke 饰）出现了，他带走了Rusty并且为他治疗，两人一夜喝酒闲聊。摩托车手之前也是帮派分子，后来厌倦了打打杀杀的生活，试图找回以前的平静生活。而他的弟弟却对他哥哥以前那种刺激的生活充满了向往。摩托车手说起他对宠物店里“斗鱼”的喜爱，他想有一天可以给那些鱼自由。后来，他下定决心在夜里闯进宠物店，而这一盗窃行为引来了警察......