The early 1950s. Alfred Miller, a talented television screenwriter who has been blacklisted for sympathizing with communist ideas, loses his job. He turns to a friend and asks him to act as a front man on television. Howard is a loser and a gambler. The promised 10% of the fee won’t hurt him. Very soon, the young writer Howard becomes popular. And since he’s a complete layman when it comes to literature, he has to teach himself. A brilliant idea occurs to Howard: why not represent a couple more disgraced writers?