A dark coming-of-age comedy set in a world of scoundrels and misfits at the end of their tether. Paul Wint quits his dead-end gig composing greeting cards and falls in with Hornsmith, an ailing con on his last score. Hornsmith is running a scam on Dr. Courtney, a cosmetic surgeon, and Simon Trang, a shadowy narc. He says it’s business, but it’s really more of a blackmail job. And it’s not working out. While Hornsmith’s distracted by his intestinal cancer, Courtney’s gangsters plot to kill the deal. Soon, Paul can’t see his way for the complications in the swindle. His obsession with Marla, a singer with The Raging Socket, doesn’t help. After a mysterious fire destroys his apartment building, Paul sets out on a road trip that is both terrifying and ridiculous, a trip through America that brings together immigrants, crooks, and seekers in the vast, unforgiving, inspiring spaces of the desert.