The main theme behind the video was "an apocalyptic situation mimicking the end of the world". The video starts with an announcement on television that nuclear activities has destroyed cities like London, Paris, New York City, and Los Angeles. It then cuts to a room where Madonna lies in her bed watching the news about the nuclear explosion. As the song starts, a visibly distressed Madonna walks to her dressing table. She sits down and kisses a framed photograph of her mother, while looking at herself. She drapes a cape around her, picks up a rod and a hat, and goes out of her house as the chorus of "Ghosttown" starts. Madonna is seen in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic destroyed city, where there are no signs of life and posters of the Rebel Heart album are shown burning. She looks around and walks carefully among the destruction, while twirling around the cape. Outside, Madonna rummages debris, tries to make a phone-call from a payphone, gets frustrated, and starts smashing objects in front of her with the rod. Her actions catches the attention of a man, played by Howard. He picks up his sniper rifle to shoot at the object of disturbance, but seeing Madonna through the lens, runs after her. They meet each other at a destroyed building where both of them notice each other and circle around with weapons in their hand. They come close and instead of attacking they throw away the weapons, embrace each other and engage in a dance-routine. After they complete their dance, and the song ends, the couple notice a little boy watching them from the destroyed building. The video ends with the couple leaving the city with the little boy hand-in-hand together with a large dog, and a panorama of the destruction.
—Peter-Patrick76 (peter-patrick@mail.com)