At 17, unmarried, unskilled, and pregnant, Maggie is abandoned by her boyfriend and evicted from her home by her parents. She leads a hard-scrabble life on the underside of a Las Vegas ghetto. Her work at menial, minimum-wage jobs barely provides for her and her asthmatic daughter. As her daughter’s health declines, Maggie’s need for money turns desperate. Either five-year-old April gets an expensive operation, or she dies.

Being a hit-man for a gangster makes Maggie’s life a soap opera of mixed emotions and dangerous ties. Things come to a head when she discovers that her detective lover is investigating her loan-shark boss...who has just put out a contract on her. With the help of one of her boss’s thugs, all of Maggie’s unsavory ties to the Las Vegas underworld are violently canceled.

Maggie, her lover, and her daughter survive: ‘What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas, and remain to build a happy life together.