Tom Bonk, college student and casual piano player, never wanted his old man's bar. He wanted an education, a high-paying career, and out of his lower-class Philadelphia neighborhood. Then his brother John, a sergeant in the Marine Corps, is killed in Iraq. His father goes on a two-week bender, leaving Tom the one thing he never wanted, a chance to run the family bar. Seduced by the financial success of his early attempts, he plunges in head first, thinking that he can outsmart the Russian Mob, the cops, a clever local girl, and his own ambition. Along the way, Tom faces realities he previously denied. He earns a degree in the ways of the world ... where the grading scale includes life and death ... where some things are important and others simply aren't worth a damn.