A boozy lowlife (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson’s suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist (Richard Jenkins) and the young man’s mother complicate matters.

A young woman caught between life and death… and a funeral director who appears to have the gift of transitioning the dead, but might just be intent on burying her alive.

After bowler Roy Munson swindles the wrong crowd and is left with a hook for a hand, he settles into impoverished obscurity. That is, until he uncovers the next big thing: an Amish kid named Ishmael. So, the corrupt and the hopelessly naïve hit the circuit intent on settling an old score with Big Ern.

A Reno singer witnesses a mob murder and the cops stash her in a nunnery to protect her from the hitmen. The mother superior does not trust her, and takes steps to limit her influence on the other nuns. Eventually the singer rescues the failing choir and begins helping with community projects, which gets her an interview on TV.