Victor Rosa runs a successful "street pharmaceutical" business that peddles a high-in-demand heroin mix which he has named "Empire". His beautiful fiancee, Carmen, a Baruch College student, befriends a classmate who has an an investment-banker boyfriend named Jack Wimmer. Victor meets Jack, and they instantly connect. Both are hard-core businessmen from two different sides of the legal fence. When Jack offers Victor a piece of the action on the stock market, Victor finally sees that this could be his ticket out of the violent streets of the South Bronx--and so, he jumps at the opportunity. But there is a bigger price to be paid than clean money for his gorgeous new Soho lifestyle. For the first time, Victor is confronted with a price tag that he will find very difficult to pay.