March 2020, Las Vegas.
As the news of a deadly virus arrives from overseas, the American capital of entertainment continues its glittering routine. The news of a spike in Covid19 cases catches everyone unprepared and incredulous.
The city that lies in the desert, with the neon lights that are always turned on it is forced to turn them off.
On the Strip, colourful street performers, tourists stunned by the noise and slots machines, are immersed in a continuous party-like atmosphere while in the suburbs, homeless, white supremacists, African-Americans from the ghetto, fight every day. Lives that cross every day without ever meet. Steve a lanky man in his fifties is a homeless dandy, that lives less than a mile away from Las Vegas Blvd. He lives in a dark tunnel made of reinforced concrete, where the danger is not the virus, but the rain that can come and sweep everything away. His girlfriend is Kat, a petite and loving woman, that loves taking care of their home. He loves to listen to music and play golf.
Mindy, forty-year-old, is a blonde actress of B movies. She is a fervent supporter of Trump and a candidate for the Primary. The virus is not important for her, she only focuses on winning the election. Despite her experience as an actress, she still struggles to take on the role of politician. Like a silicone Barbie, she is always present at the Trump's rallies that are pushing for the reopening of Las Vegas. Mike, a forty-year-old doctor, with blond hair and with courteous manners performs the COVID drive-in tests every day. Despite the poor organization, he does not spare himself, aware of the risks of getting infected. At home in the evening, as a ritual to clear his mind, he plunges into his Jacuzzi: and thanks to the massive presence of chlorine, he finally manages to feel sanitized and serene. Only he has the pulse of the pandemic situation in Las Vegas and despite the poor organization of the clinic where he works, he continues his work, passing from swabs to rapid tests, and then even testing himself.
The days go by, the contagion increases. Las Vegas and its inhabitants will experience a kind of metamorphosis. Believers will rely on religion, finding refuge in suburban churches, right-wing extremists will fight for their choice not to wear masks. The most radical, steeped in fanaticism, will run to buy weapons, others will buy toilet paper while the weakest will suffer political decisions. The wedding chapels will close and the Elvis impersonators will lose their jobs. At the same time, the weather will also get worse, exploding then in a huge monsoon that will flood the city with water. Mike, in the solitude of his clinic, does the COVID Test: he is negative and aware that only the end of the pandemic can restore his lost serenity.
Mindy deals with right-wing extremists, she will succeed in her transformation from actress to politician.
Steve will lose everything he had in the tunnel flooded and he will have to start building his place again.
In front of him Las Vegas, an icon of the American dream, regardless of the continuing growth of the pandemic, is preparing to reopen.