Low Down, based on Amy-Jo Albany's memoir of growing up in the care of her father, the bebop jazz pianist Joe Albany, focuses on the years 1974 to 1976. While Joe struggles to find gigs, maintain his heroin addiction, and stay out of jail, Amy grows up in a single-room occupancy hotel. Low Down locates cinematic soulfulness at the margins of society, where music, improvisation - and love - coalesce to form the raw materials for the stories.