The story, unfolding over a 24-hour period, centers on Vinz, Said and Hubert--very close friends from very different backgrounds. Vinz is white and Jewish. Said, an Arab. Hubert is Black. They are three disenfranchised youths trying to find meaning in what appears to be an otherwise meaningless existence. During a riot the night before, a friend of theirs is arrested and then beaten while in police custody. He lies clinging to life in a hospital. One more riot in the drug- and crime-ridden housing projects, one more case of police brutality. Same old shit, only one big difference: a gleaming, chrome-plated Smith & Wesson 44 that falls into their hands, courtesy of the Paris Police Department. The weapon, which one of the riot cops lost during the previous night's chaos, becomes the catalyst for the story's climax.