In 2044, 25-year-old Joe works for a Kansas City Organized crime as a "looper". Since future tracking systems have made it near-impossible to dispose of bodies, the syndicate uses time travel, invented thirty years later and instantly outlawed. Managed by a future man named Abe, loopers kill and dispose of face-concealed victims, and are paid with Silver as an investment strapped to the target. To prevent connections to the syndicate, a looper's final victim will be their retired future self (identified by gold bars strapped to them instead of silver), ending the contract and "closing the loop".