Coco Chavez (Carla Gugino) and Junior Armstrong (Simon Baker) are two small-time criminals who make money at blackmail and sex scams. They attempt to break into the big time by kidnapping a computer genius and holding him for a $4 million ransom. To help them, they enlist Lizard Browning (Gil Bellows) and Ruben Rubenbauer (Til Schweiger) who provide firepower and technology. However, during the kidnapping, they accidentally kill the young wife of Louisiana United States Senate Hornbeck.