Two down and out friends living in Venice, California, struggle in social and economic deprivation. They reach the point where they can't go on. Escalating pressures force them to hatch a wild get-rich-quick scheme in a last ditch attempt to solve "all of their problems". The far-fetched scheme involves one of them being bitten by a rat in a major supermarket with the fantastical hopes of winning an outrageously huge settlement. What transpires is a perfect example of "the best laid plans of mice and men" where reality trumps delusion and, in one comic turn after another, depravity gives way to humanity.