Firmly in the tradition of American Westerns, it follows the lives of the two orphaned brothers. The older one, Buddy, sees his father being shot. Vulnerable and described as “slow”, Buddy gets co-opted by gangster Julius Hench (Vincent D’Onofrio) and turns into his key assassin. While Buddy grows up in a lawless environment, younger brother Jakey is a violinist auditioning for the New York Philharmonic and on the verge of marrying his Italian girlfriend. But first Jakey must return to his dusty home town near the U.S.–Mexican border to receive his wedding present from his older brother. Returning to that one-horse town opens up unhealed wounds and forces Jakey and Buddy to confront some ugly truths.
Hench will not let Buddy quit the job. He will do anything to keep his most efficient, easily manipulated killing machine on his rolls, including bumping off Jakey. When Jakey realizes what Buddy is up against, he orchestrates a rather poorly designed plan to help them both escape from Hench.