In this first comprehensive, book-length study of the 16 films Rudolph has made to date, Richard Ness analyzes the unique visual and aural characteristics of what he calls "the Rudolph universe." Ness separates his discussion of Rudolph's work according to his more personal films - including Welcome to L.A. (1977), Choose Me, Trouble in Mind (1986), The Moderns, and Mrs.

Parker and the Vicious Circle - and what Rudolph has referred to as his "director-for-hire" studio projects, the most successful of which has been Mortal Thoughts. Beginning with Rudolph's early directorial work - and including his collaborations with his mentor, Robert Altman - Ness focuses on the recurring themes of the search for identity and romantic fulfillment, paying particular attention to Rudolph's complex approach to visual composition and mise-en-scene. Ness closely examines how Rudolph has adapted a number of genres to his thematic interests, so that even films in familiar generic territory tend to veer into an environment unique to the director.

He argues that whether drawing on conventions of women's melodramas (Remember My Name [1978]), film noir (Trouble in Mind), westerns (Songwriter [1985]), political thrillers (Endangered Species [1982]), detective films (Love at Large [1989]), suspense dramas (Mortal Thoughts), or comedies - both romantic (Choose Me) and slapstick (Roadie [1980]) - Rudolph is concerned as much with the interactions of the people in these formulaic situations as with the situations themselves.