One late night, Marcus asks his wife, Sarah, to go get ice cream because his daughter got straight A's on her report card. "Okay, gimmie 10 minutes," she says, "Do you want to come too?" "No, I've got a migraine like someone is hitting a bass drum in my head," he says. Sarah replies, " Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Two hours pass and Sarah only went 5 miles to Baskin Robbins. Marcus started to get worried after one hour passed, so now that two hours have passed he decides to go to Baskin Robbins to see if she is there. As he gets two miles down the road, he sees flashing lights and hears sirens. He pulls over and goes to look at the scene. There is a flipped over car and a car engulfed in flames. The flipped car is the royal blue Honda Civic that Marcus bought his wife for her birthday a year earlier.
As Marcus goes toward the scene an ambulance is pulling off and one body is in a body bag 30 feet away from the Honda. Marcus shoves officers and firefighters out of the way and runs toward the body bag. Marcus opens the bag hoping for the best but expecting the worst. When he opens the bag, there is a man in it, he runs to the officer and asks him, " Who got put in that ambulance?" The officer replies, " Some lady, she looked pretty bad, they thought she was dead, she actually was for a few minutes." Marcus rushes back to the car and races to the hospital.
While Marcus is driving to the hospital, thoughts and regrets run through his head about how he shouldn't have asked Sarah to go to leave. He thinks about how he is going to tell his daughter, Alex, that her mother is gone forever. He wonders if Alex will blame him, or even worse, blame herself for wanting ice cream.
As he pulls up to the hospital he rushes in and asks where the emergency room is. He pulls back curtain after curtain until he finally sees Sarah. She is laying on the bed with cuts all over her face and arms. Marcus asks the doctor if she is going to be alright. The doctor replies saying, " Well to start it she is in a coma. I personally think maybe she was driving without a seat belt and when the car started to flip she hit her head on the windows and that may be what put her in the coma. She also has a 2 fractured vertebrate, also caused from impact. I think I should tell you now that if she wakes up she will more than definitely be paralyzed from the neck down." Marcus looks at his wife, breaks down and cries.
Marcus knows he will have to pay for life support if he wants to keep his wife alive. He drives back home at 3 A.M. to get his daughter from their neighbors house. Once he picks up Alex up he packs food and clothes inside her old baby bag. Alex asks, " What's going on daddy?" Marcus replies saying, " Mommy got into an accident and shes in the hospital. We're going to go be with her until she wakes up." When Marcus and Alex get to the hospital, Alex asks her dad if her mom will be alright, Marcus says, " Yeah, she'll be awake soon." They both scoot the chair by Sarah's bed and wrap a blanket around themselves and fall asleep.
After a week of paying for life support, Marcus is broke, all of his credit cards are maxed out and he has no money left. The bank calls and informs Marcus that they cant give him any more loans. He tosses the phone against the wall in immense anger. All his friends say they cant loan him any money because they aren't able. Marcus decides to call two of his old friends and tells them to meet him outside of the hospital.
Marcus' friend Johnny pulls up first and next his friend Stuart, who they call Big Bird because he is 6'8, gets out of his car. He tells them both the situation and Big Bird says, " So what do you want to do about this?" Marcus says, " What other option do i have? If you guys aren't to old to get back in, we can rob a bank." Johnny immediately yells out saying, " Hell yeah! Just tell me when and where and I'm in." Big Bird agrees and says, " Yeah I'll do it but this isn't gonna be as easy as it was ten years ago. We're gonna need a few more people." Marcus says, " It's gonna take all three of us just to go in so were gonna need a driver." Johnny says, " We've gotta get a hacker. Ya' know to hack into the alarm systems to give us more time."
Marcus says, " Lets be clear, we've got to be in and out in two minutes, however much money we have after that then that's what we're taking! There is no getting greedy and no robbing the same bank twice. No robbing local banks or stores and every bank we rob has to be over 20 miles away from this hospital. You guys have to remember the main rules, no highways unless we rob a bank outside of Pittsburgh. We hit our first bank tomorrow, meet me here at noon." Johnny says, " I'm ready now but I'll be ready. Who sed thirty-eight is too old to rob a bank." Big Bird says, " My nephew Marshall is a hacker and my brother Ramon is the fastest pizza delivery man at Papa John's." Johnny says, " We'll give them five percent each and Marcus you can get fifty percent and me and Bird will split the last forty percent." Big Bird agrees and he and Johnny give Marcus a hug and say, " Everything is gonna be alright man." They both get back into their cars and Marcus walks back into the hospital.
The next day, Marcus meets the two outside the hospital. Big Bird convinced Marshall and Ramon to join and they pull up five minutes later. Marcus says, " don't forget the three Q's, We've gotta go in quiet, qasual, and quick." he asks Marshall if he can hack the banks security system and Marshall says, " I can hack Google if I wanted to." Marcus laughs and asks Ramon if he will be able to get away from the scene quick and avoid cops if necessary and Ramon says, " I've studied this map all night and Stuart said you don't want any highways. I'll be able to get us away from the bank in six minutes with the stop lights then we'll be clear." Everybody gets in the truck and Johnny drives to a guy who sells guns and gas grenades.
When they get to the bank Marshall hacks the security system to where it wont send signals to the police. Johnny, Marcus, and Big Bird walk into the bank with a 90-Two in each of their pockets, three gas grenades in the opposite pocket, flashlights and chloroform. Marcus stands in the back of the line, Big Bird stands on the far right of the bank and Johnny on the far left by the security guard. Marshall finds a way to shut down the buildings lights and cameras thirty seconds after the three get in. When the lights go out, everyone screams in panic and Johnny puts a chloroform rag over the security guards face while Big Bird and Marcus throw gas grenades on the ground and put on face masks. Fifteen seconds later the bank is quiet and the three get out their flashlights. They take all the money they can find behind the counter and in an office and leave with thirty seconds to spare. They flee from the bank with thirty-five thousand dollars and no sounds of sirens or any sight of police.
They drive back to Johnny's house and split the money. $7,000 for Johnny and Big Bird, $1,750 for Marshall and Ramon, and $17,500 for Marcus. Marcus says, " I wish we could've gotten more so I could give more to you guys. You guys did a phenomenal job. We didn't have to kill anybody, there were no distractions, and we left with 30 seconds to spare with no cops. Johnny says, " I hope you're gonna do this more because i feel like I'm twenty years old again." Marcus replies saying, "I'm going to do this until my wife wakes up." Ramon says, " This pay is alright with me because I just made 3 weeks pay in one day." Marshall says, " I'm alright because i don't even have a job." Everyone laughs as they walk out of Johnny's house.
Johnny asks Marcus when they are gonna do a bank job again and Marcus says, " In three days. I'll tell you the bank tomorrow and Ramon and Marshall can do the study while you get the equipment.
The crew successfully hits three more banks during the following week racking up a combined total of $103,000. After getting to Johnny's house after robbing the third bank Big Bird notices his wallet is gone. He yells out, " Oh s**t guys I don't have my wallet!" Marcus immediately yells back, " What do you mean you don't have your wallet?!" Big Bird replies saying, " I must've dropped it either in the bank or on my way out of the bank." Johnny asks, " Do you think we can go back?" Ramon says, " After we robbed our last bank the cops got to the bank exactly 4 minutes after we left the bank so it's too late." Marcus screams, " Damnit Bird! What if we get caught? It's gonna be all because of the big screw up. You know i was happy when we stopped robbing banks ten years ago because i always got the feeling somebody gonna f**k up sooner or later and I always thought it was gonna be you! And i was right! Why the f**k would you even bring a wallet to a robbery anyway. Marcus pushes Big Bird and Big Bird hesitates to push back knowing that he is 6'8, 250 pounds and Marcus is 5'10, 175 pounds. Marcus pushes Big Bird again as Johnny and Marshall try to pull him away. Marcus slaps Big Bird causing him to become enraged. Big Bird rushes toward Marcus easily shoving Marshall and Johnny out of his way to grab Marcus by his collar and pin him up against the wall screaming, "Well f**k you," then tossing him over the couch. Big Bird leaves the house enraged but before he walks out he says, "f**k this, this is bulls**t, we're all gonna go down eventually. There is no such thing as a clean getaway." Ramon goes out the door behind him saying, " Come on bro come back. He didn't mean what he said Stu." Bird ignores his brother and drives off in his car.
The next day, Ramon asks his brother to come to his house. Bird agrees and says he'll be over in half an hour. When he walks into the house he sees Marcus sitting on the couch. Marcus gets up and walks over to Big Bird and says, " I'm sorry man. I just got scared and angry because so much is depending on this. But I know I was out of line and I'm sorry" Big Bird accepts his apology and the two hug it out. Bird leaves Ramon's house and starts to drive back to his house.
When he gets back home, Big Bird gets a knock on the door. He looks out his window and there is a black SUV parked outside his house. Big Bird answers the door and asks the man, " Can I help you sir?" The man replies and says, " Actually you can. I'm with the FBI and we found this wallet on the scene of a bank robbery with an I.D. leading to this address. So are you Stuart Caesar?" Big Bird replies saying, " Yes that's me. I was looking for that wallet. Are you just here to give it back to me?" The man replies saying, " No sir that's not it. May I step in? Big Bird lets the man in. The man continues talking saying, " My name is Detective Shaun Steadson and the Bureau and I would like to know if you could give us any information about the bank you were in the day it was robbed." Bird replies saying, " No, I cant give you anything. I ran out of there as soon as the lights cut out." Detective Steadson replies saying, " Okay then Mr. Caesar, I'll see you again some other time then."
When Detective Steadson gets back in his car he says, "He's lying," to his partner Detective Stacy Finch. Finch asks why and he says, " I have interviewed damn near everybody in all recent robberies and everyone remembered passing out. So how is he all of a sudden the lucky one who escaped?" He asks Detective Finch to get him all of the security footage that is available in each robbed bank.
When Steadson watches the security footage, he notices the same three faces appear on each tape. He also notices that the cameras crash within the thirty seconds that the three faces appear. He zooms in on each face and gets their identity. Steadson goes to detective Finch and slams three pictures on her desk and says, " Meet your robbers: Johnny Dunn, Marcus Amber, and Mr. Stuart Caesar. How about that?" Finch replies saying, " Wow! You're good. It probably wasn't rocket science but no one else did it but you." Steadson says, " Yeah you certainly couldn't do it. Now ride with me to go get these punks."
The first house Steadson pulls up to is Johnny's. He knocks on the door, Johnny answers and asks if he can help the detective. Steadson arrests Johnny and takes him down to the holding area. Johnny calls Marcus and tells him he got arrested. Marcus says, " Don't say anything! They dont have any evidence on us." Johnny replies saying, " They know something, otherwise they wouldn't have arrested me Marcus." Moments later, Stuart gets escorted to the holding area. Stuart sees Marcus and they sit next to eachother. They start to quietly argue, Johnny says, " What did you say?" Big Bird replies and says , " Nothing he asked me one question and left my house. I just said i dropped my wallet while running away from the bank. Trust me" Johnny says ok and they sit quietly.
Steadson goes to Marcus' house and he isn't there. He goes to a neighbor's house and asks the lady if she had seen or heard from him recently. She says, " His wife got into a bad accident about three or four weeks ago, he has been staying in the hospital paying life support the last I heard. The moment Steadson heard that Marcus was paying life support that was the final piece to the puzzle. Steadson goes to the hospital to find Marcus and asks for him but he is nowhere to be found. He goes back to his SUV and starts to drive off. Marcus rises up from the back seat, puts Steadson's gun to his head and tells him to pull over by the bridge. When he pulls over Marcus says, " Don't think I'm a bad person. I'm doing all of this for a reason. I'm not going to let my wife die. Steadson responds and says, " I'm not one of those cops who sugarcoats things to be nice. You need to know that your wife is not going to wake up Marcus, and since your going to jail you haven't done anything but leave your daughter without a mother and a father. Your wife is not waking up Marcus, now put the gun down." Marcus replies saying, "Well what the hell makes you so sure, huh? I'm supposed to believe you." Steadson puts the handcuffs on him and says , " You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one then one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" Marcus sits in silence. Steadson takes Marcus to the holding area himself and sits him right next to Stuart and Johnny and says, " You guys might wanna know who got you caught. You might blame Stuart for dropping his wallet, but that's not it. That was only the start." Steadson brings out Stuart's cousin Marshall and says, " After I glued together the glues I realized that when you guys crashed the cameras it didn't clear any previous sightings, which was you guys pulling up to every bank that was robbed on the day it was robbed. Marshall snitched in a minute and he doesn't have to serve any time. Ramon is on his way down here now. So Marcus, you were trying to keep your wife alive and I applaud you on that but, now she's gonna pass away unless she wakes up within the next 24 hours. I'm sorry, I truly am."
When Ramon gets to the precinct they are all driven to court where they are indicted on four felony charges of robbery in the second degree and one-hundred and ten counts of assault with a deadly weapon for using "knockout gas" and chloroform on customers at the four banks. The next day while Marcus is in jail he gets to make a call to the hospital. When the worker answers he says, " I'm calling to check on Sarah Amber, she's been on life support for the past three and a half weeks now. Is she awake?" The worker replies and says, " I'm sorry to tell you this but Mrs. Amber was taken off of life support an hour ago." Marcus drops the phone and falls to the floor.
The next day the four men are taken to court and they all plea guilty to all the charges. Ramon Caesar is sentenced to a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole, Johnny is sentenced to a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole, Stuart "Big Bird" Caesar is sentenced to a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole, and Marcus Amber is sentenced to a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole. Marcus' seven year old daughter, Alex, was sent to live with Sarah's sister.