Tony and Bobby are first cousins. Johnny, the narrator of the story, is the best friend to both. Bobby is a great gambler but when he gambles with his heart he loses his life. Tony's rough-neck attitude and unsympathetic ways is the reason his wife gets confined to a mental institution and he ends up behind bars. Mr. Do-Good Johnny has an altercation with the police that puts him in a coma for over a year. This story takes the reader on a whirlwind trip of drugs, love and murder.