Tommy Myzell (Frank John Hughes) takes a post-prison work release job as a cook at a church near the L.A. halfway house he's living in that's run by the stern but understanding Renfro (Joseph Bologna). Tommy befriends a talkative, well-meaning dishwasher, Guillermo (Lombardo Boyar), who draws Tommy out of his shell and restarts his social life. Soon, Tommy falls for teacher Sophia (Seidy Lopez), whose heroin-addicted brother gets into a $10,000 debt to a local street gang. The only way to save her brother's life, as Tommy sees it, is for him to deliver a shipment of drugs for Erlik (Richard C. Sarafian), Tommy's former employer and for whom he went to prison. Little does Tommy know, there's a double-cross in the works.