The film begins with Joshua (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Vincent (Miguel Ferrer) driving to a hospital. Both of them seem to be shot and in pain. Joshua thinks back to his childhood, when his father was shot in front of his eyes.
The film then flashes back and shows Joshua and his partner, Mickey (Johnny Messner) visiting people who owe Vincent money. They visit a crazy druggie who tells them that a small time drug dealer named Frankie Tahoe wants to kill Vincent.
Joshua and Mickey tell Vincent, and the trio goes to a guy who works for Frankie. They intimidate him into telling them where Frankie is, and they find Frankie in a club. After a talk where Frankie insults Joshua, calling him Vincent's "bitch", and religion, which Vincent holds dear to him, Vincent kills Frankie with a baseball bat. The trio dump the body in a landfill. While doing this, Vincent reveals that Mickey and his wife had been having an affair, and Vincent kills Mickey.
Joshua and Vincent are having breakfast, and Joshua tells his boss that he wants no more of it, and that he wants to retire. Vincent is angered and leaves. Vincent gets home, but finds he has two men watching his house. While confronting them, Joshua appears. Joshua and Vincent are told they have been targeted by Nino (Harvey Keitel), a powerful crime boss.
They visit Nino. After Nino taunts them, Vincent tells him that he will not be intimidated, and Nino walks away. Once home, Vincent finds his wife murdered. Angered, the two decide to get revenge. They wait until night and then go back to Nino's house. Fighting their way through Nino's henchmen, Vincent finds Nino, and the two have a standoff, during which Vincent is hit by a shotgun blast, but survives. Nino gets shot and dies.
While leaving, Nino's wife appears and both fire at each other. Nino's wife dies but Joshua takes a hit to the stomach. It is then revealed that this is the opening sequence. It is also revealed that the man who actually killed Joshua's father was, in fact, Vincent. Joshua puts his gun to Vincent's head, leaving it to the viewer to decide if he kills his boss.