“The Kid,” a young African-American musician, awakens in his bunker beneath his nightclub, the “Glam Slam,” and sees the image of Aura, an angel, who tells him, “It’s just around the corner.” Across the street, in the back room of the “Pandemonium Club,” Morris Day, complains to his musicians, collectively known as “The Time,” that he owns a controlling interest in all the nightclubs in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s “Seven Corners” neighborhood except for the Glam Slam. If he can take over the Kid’s club, he will control the neighborhood. At the Glam Slam, the Kid’s girl friend, Jill, announces she is leaving him because Morris Day has offered better waitress pay at the Pandemonium. The Kid hears a blast, and when he climbs out of his bunker, part of Glam Slam is in flames. However, the Kid fixes up the club in time for his performance that evening. Morris arrives at the Glam Slam in his limousine and asks Jerome, his factotum, why the club is still standing. Jerome guesses he should have used more explosives. Morris goes inside with his entourage, stops the show, and challenges the Kid in front of the crowd. Since Morris and the Kid each own fifty percent of the club, Morris claims that his half of the proceeds are suffering because the Kid’s “spiritual” music is not bringing in enough people. Aura, the angel, stands in the crowd, distressed by the rivalry between the two young men. Morris Day and The Time take the stage and perform, and when they finish, he tells the Kid he wants his fifty percent of the proceeds now or total ownership of the club. When Morris and his group leave the Glam Slam, most of the dancers follow them to the Pandemonium. The Kid rides his motorcycle to a park, where Aura sits, holding a white feather, under the Graffiti Bridge, a small archway. He recognizes Aura, but does not speak to her. When the Kid returns to Seven Corners, Aura is already there on the street, dressed differently, but she disappears before his eyes. Meanwhile, Robin, Morris Day’s girl friend and Pandemonium financial partner, complains that she is not making enough money. Members of his group arrive with briefcases full of money, but tell Morris that George Clinton, minority owner of nearby Clinton’s House, is “holding out.” Morris and Robin walk to the club, where George Clinton’s Funkestra, a funk band, is playing onstage. Meanwhile, the Kid and his band perform in front of a small group of dancers at the Glam Slam. Aura enters and talks with a young rapper named T. C., who complains that The Kid refuses to give him his “big break.” Aura returns to Graffiti Bridge to write and recite poetry. In his bunker, the Kid writes an imaginary letter to his deceased father, confessing that he has met a beautiful woman who is trying to tell him something. When the Kid walks out on the street, Tevin, the son of “Melody Cool” club owner Melody Cool, and his group sing and perform a dance routine. A gathering crowd throws money at them. The Kid sees his ex-lover, Jill, but she has no time for him as she walks into Morris Day’s club. Meanwhile, Jerome drives Morris to Graffiti Bridge. Hoping to make Aura his “number three” girl, Morris invites her to his club. That evening, he takes her to the Seven Corners in his limousine and sets a special table at the Pandemonium. Morris also lets Jill sing with his band, knowing the news will get back to the Kid and irritate him. As Jill sings “Love Machine” on stage, Aura sings the song personally to Morris. When, Jerome and Morris take Aura for a champagne ride in the limousine, the Kid follows on his motorcycle. By the time Jerome and Morris return with Aura to Morris’s apartment at the Pandemonium, she is tipsy and falls asleep. Morris plans to be with her when she wakes up, because he believes she will fall in love with the first face she sees. However, the Kid sneaks in, blows out the candle that illuminates the room, and carries Aura back to his bunker at the Glam Slam. In the Kid’s imagination, he and Aura embrace and kiss on a rainy street, as an electric sign broadcasts the message: “It’s just around the corner.” Aura runs into the night, leaving behind a pink paper heart with a poem: “It’s just around the corner….A love that reaffirms that U are not alone.” The Kid awakens in the morning to find Aura lying next to him. She informs him that she belongs to someone up above and will not be with him long, so it would be a mistake for him to get too close to her. They make love, and the Kid takes her back to Graffiti Bridge. Later, at the Pandemonium, the Kid challenges Morris Day to a battle of the bands. He promises that Morris can take control of the Glam Slam if The Time bests his band, but if not, the Kid gets it all. Later, The Time members break into the Glam Slam, destroy the Kid’s band equipment, and paint “What Time Is It” on a brick wall where the Kid writes his graffiti poetry. That night, as Morris Day and The Time perform at the Pandemonium, Aura tells Jerome she believes Morris is good “deep down” beneath his crass materialism, and she is certain she can make him stop, but Jerome laughs at her. The Kid and his band perform outside in the street, but the crowd prefers Morris. Aura asks herself what she can do to help, and determines to do whatever she has to do to bring the Kid and Morris together. Dejected, the Kid tosses his guitar through a window and takes Aura back to Graffiti Bridge on his motorcycle. She tells him never to give up, because he has to win. Elsewhere, The Time goes to the other club owners, George Clinton and Melody Cool, and strong-arms them into signing over their minority partnerships to Morris Day. Clinton’s bouncer breaks away from the thugs, gets in his Jeep, and drives away. He accidentally hits Aura, killing her. An ambulance arrives and takes her away. The Kid gets his gun and contemplates shooting himself, but Aura’s spirit tells him to believe in his musical message and never give up. In an act of defiance, the Kid throws a can of paint on The Time’s wall graffiti. He stands outside Morris Day’s club and sings to him about love and spirituality. One of Aura’s white feathers rises in the air. As everyone joins in solidarity with the Kid, he and Morris Day shake hands and embrace.