Following her critically ill father down to Florida, Rita Polli drops out of Northwestern for an extended stay in the tropics. While her father’s condition worsens, she gets a job as a waitress—and a much-needed boost from Billy Winslow, an aspiring chef with a checkered past. Intrigued by an act of chivalry and a one-night stand, she eventually exchanges a condo in Chicago for Billy’s beachside bungalow. Soon the cracks begin to show as Rita grows tired of Billy’s antics and Billy resents Rita’s impatience. She demands too much, and he doesn’t have enough.

As the pressure mounts, a dishwasher at a local dive suggests Billy “change his luck by snatching Steve.” At first Billy balks, but after losing yet another job, he’s forced to reconsider. Unemployed and with a relationship on the rocks, Billy decides to chronicle the high-stakes kidnapping through an adrenaline-junkie alter ego called Flash. With a freshly minted team of specialists and an unwitting target, all that’s left is to commit the perfect crime.

But when a career criminal named Keller gets wind of it, he wants in—except he’ll get the cash while Billy gets the shaft. With Billy and Keller on a collision course, waiting dangerously in the wings is Steve’s dad, an ex-professional wrestler poised for the ultimate coastal smackdown.

And when the smoke clears, with her father gone and Billy on the run, Rita is left to pick up the pieces.