Living on Staten Island seems to spell despair and waste for three men. They decide to take their mid-life crises to extremes and to take control of their lives of quiet desperation. Parmie (Vincent D’Onofrio), whose full name is Parmelo Tarzo, wants to leave the Mob and his execution hit-man job to save the environment. Sully (Ethan Hawke), who cleans septic tanks for a living, wants to improve his unborn child’s Intelligence Quotient with a new gene therapy. Jasper (Seymour Cassel) moonlights for the Mob, doing disposals, but is deaf and growing old fast. The three have an encounter on the Staten Island ferry that proves a happenstance to change their drab lives.