John Parker has been a mailman for nearly 30 years and now his two teenage daughters are ready to start college. But they want to attend schools that would cost him more than $100,000 a year. He cannot afford to send them to such elite schools, but he does not want to smash their dreams. So, he resorts to a life of crime -- robbing and murdering more than half a dozen people on his walking mail route. His familiarity with his victims allows him to learn which ones are prime candidates for robbery. The thefts inadvertently turn into murders and Parker finds himself in too deep to get out. But the police are stymied in their efforts to catch him and his robbery treasury grows to several hundred thousand dollars. But he finds his personal home life is going through amazing changes and tries to cope as a criminal and a father.