"Two-bit gangster Bobby Cooper (Penn) is carrying a bag full of money to Vegas to pay off some mobsters when his car breaks down outside a hick town called Superior, Arizona. Bobby leaves his car in the care of the town's oddball mechanic (Thornton) then heads into town, carrying his bag of cash with him. Bobby quickly loses the bag during a convience store robbery. Stuck without any money, Bobby is rescued by a beautiful Apache native named Grace (Lopez) who takes him to her home and seduces him. Bobby doesn't know that she's married to one of the most powerful men in Superior, sadistic real estate king Jake McKenna (Nolte). Jake beats Bobby to a pulp at first, but later offers him money to kill Grace. Before long, Grace makes Bobby the same offer if he'll murder Jake. Bobby just wants to get the hell out of town, but without any money to pay for car repairs, he's trapped. Meanwhile, he's being taunted by a teen trash couple -- the lusty Jenny (Danes) and her hotheaded boyfriend, TNT Toby N. Tyler (Phoenix) -- who involves Bobby in their love spat, and a philosophizing blind man (Voight) who continually lets our antihero know just how far up the creek he really is."