Paralyzed by polio as a child and confined to crutches and a wheel chair, Doc Pomus, a white Jewish Brooklynite born Jerome Felder, becomes an unlikely blues singer performing in various musical venues in New York City, having obtained his first gig as a result of sheer chutzpah. Subsequently, Doc Pomus traded his singing career for that of a song writer, composing "Save the Last Dance for Me," "A Teenager in Love" and "This Magic Moment."

The film includes interviews with his many friends and those songwriters and singers he taught and influenced as dean of the live music scene in New York City from 1960 to 1990. In 1992, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.