Wallace Ritchie flies from Des Moines, Iowa, Iowa, to London, United Kingdom, to spend his birthday with his brother, James. As James hosts a business dinner, he sets Wallace up with an interactive Improvisational theatre business, the "Theatre of Life", which promises to treat the participant as a character in a crime drama. Before the night begins, James hands Wallace a pair of Ambassador cigars, promising to "fire them up" before midnight in celebration of Wally's birthday. Wallace answers a phone call intended for a hitman at the same payphone that the Theatre of Life uses for its act.