There is no place like Las Vegas to search for the American Dream, especially when you have so many drugs in your possession and in your system that it is a small miracle that you haven't stopped breathing. Raoul Drake (Johnny Depp) and his traveling companion Oscar Acosta (Benicio del Toro) travel across the U. S. to Las Vegas taking the money they were paid to cover a sporting event and blowing it all on drugs. They are hoping this combination of not sleeping, seeing the country and Las Vegas, and getting a new slant on the world as they view it through the psychedelic lenses of drugs and booze will help them to find this "thing" they seek. If only the American Dream were easily identified. Instead they find a truly disturbing look at America and all its people.