费里尼的《八部半》在半世纪之前首映时，以其大胆的风格震惊了全世界，电影的主角与本片导演费里尼构成了镜像关系，而影片故事则映身了本片的拍摄过程。攻击者挞伐《八部半》的自我沉溺，赞美者则称颂它的自觉意识。无论如何，作为集体创作的电影而位列个人创制的艺术品，《八部半》早已成为典范之作。众多大导演也从中吸取灵感，并通过自己的作品向其致敬。 本书阐释了《八部半》历久弥新的意义，并把它还原到各种语境之中，在条缕分析之后，力证了它的不朽价值。

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

When a Hollywood star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer to get him back.