In the past, Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta), the proprietor of a criminal poker ring operating in an unspecified New Orleans neighborhood, decides to orchestrate an inside job by paying two men to rob his poker room. He holds up under questioning by the hitman Dillon, although he later openly admits his involvement to various criminal figures; he suffers no retaliation. In the fall of 2008, amidst the American financial crisis, a man named Johnny "Squirrel" Amato (Vincent Curatola) plans to rob Markie's next poker game, anticipating the mafia will blame Markie for the heist. He enlists Frankie (Scoot McNairy), a nave, former business associate with a boy's voice, and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), an unstable heroin addict who is stealing purebred dogs for money, to perform the robbery. Upon completing the crime, Russell travels to Florida to sell the purebred dogs.