New Orleans, May 1944: A low-level bank employee tries to horn in on an impending bank robbery and is murdered by a shadowy fellow employee who attempts to make it appear a suicide. New Orleans cop Des Cortes and his girlfriend, local reporter Jessica Richards, quickly recognize the death as a murder and begin asking questions. Across town, a teenage African American youth named Butch Martin runs away from home with his ex-con father, Al, prompting his mother to hire disabled war vet Sal Cortes to find the boy and bring him home. Working independently of each other, the trio eventually find that they're following the same trail which leads to a bank heist worth $85,000.00. Sal, learning that Al Martin is part of the gang put together by a professional thief named Fade Taber learns he's in a race with his brother to find Butch Martin and get him away from his father before the heist goes down. Taber has put together what he thinks is a foolproof plan, not realizing that Martin, through a series of violent misadventures, has also exposed the plot to Des and Jessica. Sal, his brother and Jessica follow twisted trails of robbery and murder that eventually lead them to an explosive showdown with Taber, Martin, and the rest of the holdup gang.