Jimmy lives in San Francisco, in a neighborhood downtown called Tenderloin. After ending his service to the army in Vietnam, Jimmy's life hasn't been easy. He suffers from a difficult relationship to a female entity he calls "Gloria." Jimmy experiences his need to be near "Gloria" his anima by pursuing intimacy with women. Sometimes she appears as his wife, or his ex-wife, sometimes she appears on passersby, and sometimes, she appears on prostitutes.
After suffering this affliction for a long time, he finally decides to pursue the delusions. He does whatever she wants, in an attempt to see her. He sees her on another prostitute, and he asks the prostitute for sex and they have sex. He sees her on many, many prostitutes after that and continues sleeping with the city's prostitutes, including men dressed as women, and transgendered women.
Whenever he has sex with a prostitute, he asks them to tell him about their life. He pretends it is Gloria's own story, and he falls in love with each of the girls.
One day, Jimmy realizes that perhaps Gloria was a projection of his own self, understood poorly. For a second, it seems that he was simply insane, hearing an archetypal voice from his unconscious, but then right at the end, Jimmy realizes that actually, Gloria is more real than he is.
