The Day of the Locust is the story of Tod Hackett, an aspiring painter working in late 1930s-era Hollywood where he paints backgrounds for movie sets. Hackett begins an affair with Faye Greener, a hopeful starlet who lives nearby, and is drawn into her circle of friends before the novel ends with a riot at the premiere of one of their studio's films. The story deals with the falseness of the American Dream and with the corruption of American culture by greed.