It′s Kansas City, 1934, the eve of one of "Boss" Tom Pendergast′s violent elections. The city is wide-open in the midst of the Depression, reverberating to the energy of non-stop jazz. Blondie O′Hara, a young telegraph operator, concocts a desperate paln to kidnap Carolyn Stilton, the socialite wife of an advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. Her goal is to exchange Mrs. Stilton for her petty thief of a husband, who has been caught by legendary gangster Seldom Seen after a botched heist. Surrounded by moral turbulence, the two women forge a relationship that changes from abductor and captive to near-trusting friends as they head towards an inevitable transforming conclusion.