In 2020, DCI Billy O'Connell is tasked with tackling an armed suspect who takes a group of Russian immigrants hostage in a lift after blaming the immigrant population for an outbreak of tuberculosis that killed most of his family

Jack Manfred is an aspiring writer who to make ends meet, takes a job as a croupier. Jack remains an observer, knowing that everything in life is a gamble and that gamblers are born to lose. Inevitably, he gets sucked into the world of the casino which takes its toll on his relationships and the novel he is writing.