Director Buddy Giovinazzo's provocative drama follows the intertwining lives of crack cocaine addicts and other residents of a violent inner-city neighborhood as they desperately try to survive while clinging to fading dreams of a better life. Among the urbanites about to collide are a transsexual streetwalker (Kerry Washington) and a family man (Victor Rasuk) who works at a flophouse where a 10-year-old boy (Ridge Canipe) begs for food money.