1949, Santa Rosa, California. The silent hairdresser Ed Crane leisurely cuts clients in his salon, while his wife plays with her haberdasher boss Big Dave, who recently saved up money for a new store.
Suddenly, Ed is given the opportunity to make a fortune in the nascent dry cleaning business. To acquire capital, he blackmails Big Dave, realizing that he can achieve success in life only by going to extreme measures. It seems that there is no flaw in Ed’s cunning design. However, he soon learns that, having made this fateful decision, he signed his death warrant.
