Looking to escape her unhappy marriage, villainous femme fatale Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) convinces her husband, Clay (Bill Pullman), to sell cocaine, then steals the profits and runs out on him. She stops in a small town en route to Chicago, where she ensnares her next conquest, insurance man Mike Swale (Peter Berg). After getting a job at his insurance company, Bridget convinces Mike to run a scam — but things take a deadly turn when she recruits him to help get rid of her husband.

Johnny and Tanner are two brothers raised in a violently dysfunctional family, with a brutal psychopath for a father. One day, their father’s abuse of their mother goes too far and tragedy strikes. Tanner winds up in jail, and Johnny is sent to a foster home, where he finally knows a stable life and a caring family. Years later, Johnny (Scott Waugh) is a college student with good marks and good prospects ahead of him, while Tanner (Sean Graham) is trying to dig himself out of a life of crime. Tanner calls Johnny and asks him for a favor — he’d like his brother to vouch for him in a hearing with his parole officer in Hollywood. Johnny agrees, but then discovers that the hearing isn’t in nearby Hollywood, CA, but on the other side of the country in Hollywood, FL. A promise is a promise, and Johnny and Tanner hop in Tanner’s ancient Lincoln Continental with only 12 dollars to their name, hoping the fates will guide them safely to the East Coast.