SCUM OF THE EARTH!

Harmon Johnson is the photographer for a small pornography ring that uses deception and blackmail to coerce its models into performing. Although Harmon is complicit in the crime and takes a cynical attitude to the proceedings, he treats the models more kindly than the rest of the gang.

His current model, Sandy, is nearing the end of her career and begs to be released from her service. Lang, the leader of the operation, agrees on condition that she will procure and help manage new models to continue the cycle. Sandy agrees and her first victim is a naive young girl named Kim, who wishes to save money to go to college. Harmon gets her hooked on modeling by overpaying for some relatively tame "shoe" ads that show off Kim's legs. When she comes looking for more work, Harmon entices her with doing more explicit photos. During this activity a helper, Larry, snaps even more explicit photos and the group blackmails her into doing further work.

Meanwhile, Marie, another model, grows tired of the threats and actual violence against her and talks about going to the police with Sandy. Larry and Ajax, a thug and pornographic performer employed by the gang, overhear this and Ajax kidnaps Marie off the street, takes her to a motel room and rapes and beats her severely. When he leaves, Marie calls the police.

Kim is distraught at her situation, but Larry and the gang convince her that it will all be behind her if she agrees to one more day of shooting. However, during the shoot, Ajax continues to menace the girls and threatens to rape Kim. Finally having enough, Harmon intervenes on the girls' behalf, killing Ajax with a baseball bat. Realizing that this will cause the police to investigate, Harmon gives Kim all her negatives and other material and tells her to run away.

During a police interrogation, Harmon is then unexpectedly saved by Sandy, and they decide to get married.

Hearing of the encroaching police, Lang makes a run for it, but is pursued until he runs into the ocean and, cornered, shoots himself. In the dénouement, Sandy counsels Kim to pretend it was all a dream.

Harmon kills Ajax to protect Kim and Sandy, helps Kim escape, and is saved by Sandy during police interrogation. Lang flees but ultimately shoots himself when cornered by authorities.

The ending sees the cycle of exploitation violently disrupted, but not without cost. Harmon's act of violence marks his break from complicity, and the demise of Lang signals the collapse of the pornography ring. The resolution, with Sandy counseling Kim to move on, underscores the film's bleak perspective: escape is possible, but innocence is irrevocably lost, and scars remain for those exploited.