In a dystopian near future, scientist Desmond Denton has found a way to copy other people's personalities and become more like them. He falls for Kitty, a rebel female artist who's fighting the ultra-conservative American Family League and their control over the New York art galleries, where they promote only their own art movement which they call the New Formalism. Desmond uses his invention to win over Kitty, but turns himself into a terrorist instead and goes on a violent crusade against the League's cultural oppression and a greedy art dealer who uses drugs to control his artists' creativity.