Two hitmen pull up to Eddie Macklin's home, where he is busy building a brick wall, and they shoot him dead. Edward Ness plays Eddie Macklin in this brutal, hard-edged tale. His brother, Earl Macklin Robert Duvall, is released from a 27-month prison stretch in Illinois for carrying a concealed weapon, and his girlfriend Bett Harrow Karen Black scoops him up, taking him to a motel where the car and the mood feel suddenly dangerous. Bett drops the grim news that Earl’s brother was executed by the Outfit, a powerful criminal syndicate, and Earl immediately senses the motel stay is a trap. When one of the hitmen who killed Eddie bursts into the room, Earl springs into action, catching him off guard and forcing him to spill what he knows.
Earl spares the killer and sends him back to Chicago as a warning. Bett confesses that the Outfit tortured her and threatened to scar her face unless she lured Earl into the motel. Fueled by rage and a thirst for payback, Earl sets his sights on a bold gambit: he and Bett hatch a plan to hit a poker game where Jake Menner [Timothy Carey] is playing. Menner explains that the bank Eddie and Earl previously robbed was an Outfit cover, and the two brothers now face a straightforward retribution contract. Earl calculates that the Outfit owes him a tremendous sum—$250,000—and vows that any profits he can squeeze from the Outfit along the way will be “gravy.” He shoots Menner in the hand as a personal reminder of the price of crossing him.
Menner informs his boss Mailer [Robert Ryan] that the Outfit has a problem, but Mailer insists it is Menner’s own problem to solve. The hit squad that killed Eddie is sent to track down Earl’s old partner Cody [Joe Don Baker] at his diner. Cody talks them out of trouble by pointing to the local sheriff, and together he and Earl improvise a plan to keep hitting the Outfit, with Bett serving as a driver. Their next move targets a dive restaurant lacking any real safe to crack; as they make their getaway, the cook throws a cleaver at Cody, while three gunmen lie in wait outside. Bett handles the danger with precision, mowing down two attackers and allowing the trio to slip away.
To stay ahead, Earl and Cody head to Chemey [Richard Jaeckel] to obtain a new car after theirs has been compromised. Chemey’s sister-in-law makes a pass at Cody, and when he declines, she claims he attempted rape. The accusation triggers a tense confrontation that Chemey diffuses, and the duo drives off in their new ride. Their sights lift higher now: a much bigger operation awaits. Cody poses as a mailman, Earl as a maintenance man, and the pair snatch a secretary, slipping through a maze of back rooms to reach the Outfit’s safe. They corner Mailer at a horse auction; Mailer agrees to pay the $250,000 but warns Earl to stop the robberies.
Mailer is livid that Earl got so close and orders him killed. At the payoff, Earl realizes the briefcase is filled with newspaper instead of money. He and Cody escape by tripping a fire alarm, which only inflames Mailer’s fury. Another ambush on the road—led by Menner—ends in a feverish melee during which Cody and Earl manage to kill Menner and his men, but Bett is shot and killed in the process. Enraged, Earl plots a final, desperate assault on Mailer’s well-guarded home. Cody cautions that getting in will be easy, but getting out will be nearly impossible. They hijack one of the Outfit’s cars to slip past the gates and move inside.
Inside, Cody plants a bomb beneath a table while the two search for Mailer. Mailer spots Cody in his shaving mirror and rifles him in the gut, as Earl waits in the hallway. Cody, still conscious, fires a shot into Mailer’s back, and Earl finishes Mailer off. When the bomb goes off, Earl dons a white medical coat to help Cody escape. The emergency response arrives—police, fire brigade, and an ambulance—and, posing as a medic, Earl loads Cody into the ambulance, and the two share a relieved, almost defiant laugh about how easily they pulled it off.
