In a poor neighborhood in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where the streets are run by drug dealers (criminals who have been deported from the United States back to their homeland), a modest butcher struggles to raise his ten-year-old son, Luisito. After witnessing the murder of his father by New York criminal named Rafa, Luisito meets General Colon, head of the Dominican secret police. Colon preys on the boy's desire for revenge and transforms him into a heartless killer. Twenty years later, Luisito has risen to become Colon's top assassin. He is kept in line by the general's promise to deliver his father's killer. Luisito's childhood sweetheart, Jenny, re-enters his life. Unaware of his occupation, Jenny is immediately smitten with him again, and her tender affection rekindles his dormant conscience. Luisito begins to acknowledge the corruption around him, he struggles to cope with both his past and present.