Little Murders

In a crime-plagued New York City street, Patsy Newquist steps in when a defenseless man is attacked by thugs. She pulls him away and tries to intervene, but the victim remains quiet and ungrateful, refusing to thank her as the assault ends.

Patsy is oddly drawn to the passive man she rescued, Alfred Chamberlain, a photographer who seems emotionally vacant. He barely registers pain or pleasure, and he does not immediately reciprocate her attraction.

Patsy brings Alfred home to meet her eccentric family, including her strict parents and her younger brother Kenny. Alfred is almost non-verbal and makes it clear he doesn’t care for families.

Alfred learns Patsy had another brother who was murdered for no known reason. This revelation deepens the family mystery and heightens Patsy’s own fixation on violence.

Patsy announces their intention to wed, startling the family. The wedding ceremony, conducted by existential Rev. Henry Dupas, devolves into a mass fight.

To uncover his past, Patsy sends Alfred to Chicago to visit his parents, whom he left when he was 17. There, he records an interview with them, but they deny any memory of his childhood.

Alfred ultimately agrees to try to become Patsy's kind of man and fights back, professing that he can feel emotions again. His first feeling, he claims, is worship for Patsy.

The instant he starts to feel something, Patsy is killed by a sniper, an apparently random act that shatters the fragile transformation. The murder leaves Alfred desolate and directionless.

Blood-splattered and stunned, Alfred goes to Patsy's parents' apartment. Detective Lt. Miles Practice, a ranting investigator overwhelmed by unsolved murders, stops by to vent about the city's crime problem.

After the detective leaves, Alfred walks in the park to photograph a statue and some children. He returns with a rifle he doesn’t know how to load, and Carol shows him how.

The two of them, along with Kenny, take turns shooting people on the street, embracing a dangerous new family dynamic. The act marks a drastic turn toward violence as a way to feel alive.

Believing Alfred shot Lt. Practice, the family mood shifts to giddy triumph. They join Marjorie for dinner at the family table, sealing their grim alliance with a shared sense of victory.