Stephen Fontaine is a talented actor and musician who is down on his luck. Dumped by his girlfriend, out of work, his career going nowhere. In desperation he dresses as an 18th century nobleman and attempts suicide by cop at Hollywood and Vine. Thwarted, he ends up in jail, where he meets an imaginative inner-city teen, Reg. The two hit the streets as a musical comedy duo, Stephen in his noble topcoat, Reg dressed as an extraterrestrial African king. Slowly, they gain a foothold. Meanwhile, Stephen (as Lord Mandrake) sends wax-sealed love letters to Victoria Maddox, who is a world star famous for wearing a rubberized superhero costume. Before she was famous, she and Stephen met at an audition. Now, unbeknownst to him, he remains the blank canvas upon which she projects fantasies when other men wrong her. Miraculously, Stephen's old-school cursive letters both reach Victoria and capture her fancy, sparking a romance across three continents.