A television reporter named Maggie Foley investigates the mysterious disappearance of legendary rock star Eddie Wilson. Flashbacks dramatize Eddie's life and the rise and fall of his rock and roll band, Eddie and the Cruisers.

The band gets its start at a Somers Point, New Jersey club called Tony Mart's. Not adept at writing lyrics, Eddie hires Frank Ridgeway aka "Wordman" to be the band's keyboard player and lyricist, over the protests of band manager Doc Robbins and bassist Sal Amato. Rounding out the Cruisers are saxophonist Wendell Newton, background singer and Eddie's girlfriend Joann Carlino, and drummer Kenny Hopkins.

The band's first album, Tender Years, becomes a major hit, but recording their next album, A Season in Hell, turns out to be a nightmare. Inspired by the bleak, fatalistic poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, Eddie pushes his bandmates beyond their limits, musically and personally. Eddie wants to be great, but bassist Sal replies, "We ain't great. We're just some guys from Jersey." Eddie makes it clear that if the band cannot be great, there is no reason to ever play music again. A Season in Hell is ultimately rejected by Satin Records on the grounds that it is "dark and strange". In the early morning hours, Eddie's car crashes through the railing and over the Stainton Memorial Causeway. Eddie vanishes without a trace, his body never found.