Tyler Spotswood, an alcoholic campaign manager, helps elect a corrupt Southern politician to the U.S. Senate. When his boss, Chuck Crawford aka ';Number One,' pins a scandal on Spotswood, Tyler is too drunk to blow the whistle. Number One draws many comparisons to Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. Crawford reminds many of Louisiana politician Huey Long, a figure studied in person by Dos Passos.
