Buffaloed

Peg Dahl is born into a poor, blue-collar family in Buffalo. From an early age she witnesses her father's hustling mindset and inherits a curiosity about money. She studies economics in her youth and dreams of Ivy League attendance and Wall Street success.

Throughout her childhood Peg hones a sense for money-making schemes. She pursues economics and builds a plan to finance her education and future. She practices small-scale hustle tactics with the aim of someday reaching the Ivy League and a high-powered career.

Peg earns a spot at a good college but cannot afford it. She begins selling counterfeit Bills game tickets to make ends meet, using her wit to bypass costs. Her scheme is discovered and she is sentenced to forty months in prison.

Peg serves forty months in prison for the ticket scam. The experience exposes her to a harsher reality and plants seeds for her later work in reforming debt practices. She reflects on lessons learned while incarcerated.

Upon release, Peg starts cleaning toilets at her brother J.J.'s bar, earning her first honest work after prison. She uses this period to observe local hustles and the debt cycle around her. This grounding experience becomes a springboard for her next ventures.

Peg latches onto the debt collection racket, starting from the bottom but quickly rising to the top. She learns the ins and outs of the business, only to be cheated by the firm’s owner, Wizz. The betrayal fuels her ambition to build something her own way.

At the bar Peg meets Graham, an investigator for the DA looking into shady debt collection practices. They connect and sleep together after a bar brawl, sharing information that foreshadows a new venture. This relationship becomes pivotal for her future plans.

Inspired by Graham’s intel, Peg decides to start a legitimate debt collection business that aims to free people from overwhelming debt. She recruits a diverse crew of hustlers, from phone sex operators to Asian business owners and a fellow parolee. Her pitch centers on helping people by leveraging information and networks.

Peg’s firm grows quickly but is repeatedly sabotaged by her former employer Wizz. The conflict spills into her personal life, as Wizz seizes her brother's bar and puts pressure on her family. The strain tests her resolve and ethics as a leader.

During a tense dinner with J.J., Peg confronts Wizz about rumors and the conflict escalates. She fires shots into the air to gain leverage, but the police intervene and arrest her for firing a weapon. This moment marks a turning point in her legal jeopardy.

In the interrogation room Peg and her mother face questions about family finances. Peg accepts a plea deal and agrees to work with the police to dismantle other illegal debt collectors. This decision signals a shift toward reform and legitimate work.

Peg unites citywide debt-collection agencies for a sting at J.J.'s bar, getting them on tape confessing their practices. The authorities raid offices and 42 people are arrested for illegal debt collecting. Before being taken back, she burns over 50 thousand debt sheets, symbolically wiping out a massive debt burden.

For destroying evidence she is sent back to prison, where she uses the time to teach fellow inmates about finance as part of her plea deal. The experience strengthens her resolve to pursue finance with ethical reforms.

Peg is released and returns to family and friends who provide seed money to restart. With their support she plans a new venture and pivots toward addressing hedge funds as her next frontier. The reset marks a hopeful new phase.

Armed with experience from debt collection reform, Peg begins focusing on hedge funds. She aims to disrupt predatory practices at the highest levels of finance and to prevent debt cycles from harming communities. The film closes on her renewed determination to remake the debt market.