Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) is a beautiful, wealthy young party girl. When she drops out of Harvard in 1965, she decides to head to New York where she meets famous artist Andy Warhol (played by Guy Pierce) who acts as her muse as she pursues fame and fortune.
The setting for the majority of the movie is at "The Factory," Warhol's downtown loft where aspiring actors, artists, musicians produce art, movies, music during the day and throw extravagant parties at night. After Sedgwick's love for Warhol is denied, she falls for a singer/songwriter named Danny Quinn who manipulates her and uses her in his movies without paying her.