When Forty Dollar is approached by his old friend, mobster Jerry Gold, to build something "like a radio, but different," Forty has mixed feelings.
On the one hand, it's a paying job, and in the heights of the Great Depression, those aren't to be taken lightly.
But on the other, Forty has long harbored a secret love for Jerry's wife Rebecca, not smart when she's married to one of the most vicious gangsters on the East Side.
And when Forty learns that the "like a radio" gadget is actually a death ray, all the pieces are in place for a wave of betrayal, destruction, and death.