Johnnie Cooper (Modine), fresh out of prison for armed robbery, finds work at a gas station to try to start a new life.
His parole officer, Gilmore (Keith), lets Cooper's father Sean (Hurt), who he strongly suspects was also involved in the robbery, know about his release because of good behavior.
Being convinced that Johnnie was at his family's barbecue, Gilmore starts to leave, but Jamie, afraid of going to jail, knocks him out over the head with a wooden board.
Johnnie takes Jamie, who is convinced that Gilmore is dead, along to work at a tortilla factory owned by a Mexican friend, Villalobos, in Tijuana, to hide out for a few months.
While working there for several weeks, which makes Jamie uneasy, they conspire with another long-time employee, Cesar (Palomino), to pull off a heist at a bullring to finally get out of Tijuana.
While Johnnie and Cesar are robbing the cashiers at the bullring, Jamie gets their getaway car ready to go to the beach, where Sean is supposed to be waiting for them all on a speedboat.