Small Crime

Former cop Joe Denton is released after serving time for his past actions, stepping back into a world that still remembers the slash cop nickname. He returns to civilian life by moving in with his elderly parents, beginning a fragile attempt at redemption. The release marks the start of the present-day story and the long shadow of his history.

While on the mob's payroll, Denton ambushed district attorney Phil Coakley, earning the hatred of the police and the nickname 'slash cop.' The attack creates a lasting feud that shapes every later decision. It establishes the danger Denton faces from both the mob and the city's corruption.

Denton relocates to his parents' home, trying to rebuild a life after prison. The domestic setting intensifies the conflict between his past and his attempts at redemption. This arrangement also strains his relationship with his family as tension and suspicion simmer.

Denton searches for his ex-wife on the internet and briefly talks to one of his daughters. His ex-wife closes the door by threatening to press charges, underscoring how fragile his chance at a fresh start remains. The moment foreshadows the ongoing risk of legal and personal entanglements.

In a bar, Scotty—brother to Denton's slain partner—offers a chance to help that is tempered by Denton's past. A young barfly reveals herself to be Coakley's daughter and bloodies herself on purpose, drawing attention to the old case. Two men then drag Denton from his car, and he savages them before police questions begin.

Denton is questioned by the police, and Coakley reluctantly confirms that the evidence supports his account. Denton declines to press charges, insisting he wants to leave his history in the past. Lieutenant Pleasant, who is corrupt, pressures him to kill mob boss Manny Vassey to secure a better settlement with his ex-wife.

Denton goes to suffocate Vassey but is interrupted by Charlotte Boyd, Vassey's hospice nurse. He thanks her for her work and leaves, only to be confronted by Vassey's sadistic son, Junior, who threatens him for the dishonor of his father's fate.

Denton encounters Boyd again at a diner, and the two begin dating, offering Denton a fragile sense of stability. Pleasant continues to threaten him and his parents, pushing him to find a way to access Vassey. The mounting pressure propels Denton toward darker choices.

Denton breaks into Coakley's house but cannot bring himself to kill him. Instead, he bribes Toni, a prostitute Coakley has been seeing, into secretly recording him, hoping to create leverage against the DA.

Denton sets up a camera in Coakley’s motel room and waits for him to arrive. Toni's boyfriend Rooster shows up, leading to a violent sequence where Rooster kills Toni and Coakley kills Rooster. Denton witnesses the shooting and returns home dejected when he discovers Coakley took the camera.

An unknown assailant fires into Denton’s parents' house, wounding his mother. Denton confesses to Boyd that the situation has spiraled, and unknowingly, Boyd murders Vassey in a desperate bid to help him.

Denton and Scotty kill Junior and his thugs, but Scotty is shot in the confrontation. Coakley had revealed to Scotty that Denton killed Scotty's brother under Junior's orders, and Denton chooses to abandon him, leaving Scotty to die as betrayals surface.

Denton receives a call from Pleasant that Coakley has died in a car accident, distracted while watching the recording of his shooting of Rooster. The death removes the leverage Denton hoped to leverage in his plans.

Denton searches his parents' house for dirty money they had hidden, but his father stabs him to stop the self-destructive path. In his dying moments, Denton wipes his father's fingerprints off the knife and adds his own to make the wound look self-inflicted.