Johnny Price, 22, is a strapping man who works as a grocery deliveryman in the small town of Reesport, NY. When he stumbles upon a mob murder in a pool hall, he helps two local gangsters, Lurton and Kloss, in a retaliation killing. They offer him a job collecting weekly extortion money from local businessmen. But Price is ambitious, and within a few months, he betrays his employers by informing their New York City boss, Rizzo, that they are skimming their monthly payments to him. He falls for Rizzo's girlfriend, Marie, and soon all his betrayals begin to catch up with him.