In 1980, The Stunt Man, starring Peter O'Toole and Steve Railsback, became one of the most acclaimed motion pictures of the decade -- an odd mixture of black humor and riveting suspense. But the strange history of the film's embattled development, production and distribution has never been fully revealed ... until now.

Graduate student Harry Bailey was once one of the most visible undergraduate activists on campus, but now that he's back studying for his master's, he's trying to fly right. Trouble is, the campus is exploding with various student movements, and Harry's girlfriend, Jan, is caught up in most of them. As Harry gets closer to finishing his degree, he finds his iconoclastic attitude increasingly aligned with the students rather than the faculty.