Paris, 1916, in the midst of WWI--the Italian born painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani considers himself a commercial and critical failure. One evening in a fashionable restaurant his frustrations erupt into scandalous behavior and costly damage to the premises. Suddenly he finds himself on the run from the police. Aided by his talented but quixotic friends, Maurice Utrillo and Chaim Soutine, he intends to escape the city. He seeks funds from his art dealer, Leopold Zborowski, who informs him he can't leave because an influential collector is coming to Paris to buy his work. Modigliani's lover, Beatrice Hastings, believing in his genius, convinces him to meet the collector himself.