In 1971, a 24-year-old fledgling David Bowie is sent to America to promote his newest record, The Man Who Sold the World. Leaving behind his pregnant wife Angie, Bowie and his band embark on a makeshift coast-to-coast promotional tour with struggling Mercury Records publicist Rob Oberman. Stateside, Bowie is quickly met with an audience that's not yet ready for him. During the tumultuous journey, Bowie slowly begins to realize a need to reinvent himself in order to truly become himself; it's with that realization that his iconic, celestial alter-ego Ziggy Stardust is born.