The Birth, Life and Death of an Underground Newspaper Summary

Despite their dislike of his behavior while drunk, Joe and Cherry Hyans hire Bukowski to write a column, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man," for their new underground newspaper, Open Pussy. The operation begins in the first floor of their rented house before moving to a vacant building on Melrose Ave. Most of the employees are volunteers. Publication of a literary supplement results in an "obscenity" charge. Bukowski, still a Post Office employee, is twice interrogated about his column, with the status of his support payments for an illegitimate child being brought up.

Joe and Cherry, meanwhile, have marital difficulties, splitting up and getting back together repeatedly. When the paper folds, heavily in debt, Joe tries to commit suicide with the gun he buys to kill Cherry's...