In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline which flew the question:"Jackson Pollock: Is he the best living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back in the life span of an extraordinary person, a guy who has fittingly been called"an artist devoted to concealment, a star who nobody knew." As he struggled engaging at an between having to express himself and wanting to close out the world, Pollock began a downhill spiral.