Oscar Novak is an idealistic, young architect on the rise. Boyishly handsome and funny, Oscar and his business partner, Peter Steinberg (Platt), have just landed a career-making opportunity-Chicago tycoon Charles Newman has chosen them to compete for the design of a multi-million dollar cultural center. In a ploy for publicity, Newman has pitched Oscar and Peter in a neck-and-neck competition with their archrivals and former colleagues, the hugely successful (and equally ruthless) Decker and Strauss.