The story starts in the early 1960s. A young ship builder from Liverpool named Jude (played by Jim Sturgess) travels by ship to the United States in search of his American G.I. father called Wes (Played by Robert Clohessy). They have never met and his father does not know Jude exists. While looking for his father at Princeton, Jude makes friends with somebody called Max (Played by Joe Anderson), a rebellious young man from a rich background, and Max's sister Lucy (Played by Evan Rachel Wood). When Max drops out of college and moves to New York City, Jude goes with him. Max works as a taxi driver, while Jude tries to find work as an independent artist. They become roommates in a bohemian area of the city where they share an apartment with other people, including a woman called Sadie (Played by Dana Fuchs) who is their landlady and who is also trying to become singer. Other people who live in the same house include Jojo (Played by Martin Luther McCoy), a guitarist who arrives from Detroit after the death of his younger brother; and Prudence (Played by T.V. Carpio), a young lesbian who hitchhikes to New York City from Dayton, Ohio. Lucy joins them in the New York flat after her boyfriend is killed in the Vietnam War.