Loring quot Red quot Nichols is a cornet-playing country boy who goes to New York in the 一九二0s full of musical ambition and principles He gets a job playing in Wil Paradise s band, but quits to pursue his dream of playing Dixieland jazz He forms the quot Five Pennies quot which features his wife, Bobbie, as vocalist At the peak of his fame, Red and Bobbie s daughter, Dorothy, develops polio