Jon, a spoken-word poet and New York City bike messenger stumbles upon a lost manuscript from 1974 by Claire Wilks, a forgotten poet who was murdered. Initially intrigued by the possibilities of bringing attention to this important literary work, Jon quickly becomes obsessed to unravel Claire's unsolved murder. Drawn into the New York City literary world, he encounters many poetry characters and landmarks, as well as sparks a romance with beautiful young poet, Angel.