Synopsis: Joe Gillis hides from car repossessors in the garage of a deserted-looking mansion which proves to be the grotesque home of Norma Desmond. Joe takes refuge there, with a nominal job of rewriting Norma's hopeless 'comeback' screenplay. Weeks pass; feeling more and more like a kept man, Joe grasps at reality in the form of a clandestine friendship with script reader Betty Schaefer, but it's too late...