Depressed cab driver Vince McKee, bored with his job with its ghastly fares, out of love with wife Ros, and disrespected by his school-girl daughter, meets Colin, an old friend just released from a prison sentence for armed robbery. Ros detests him, but Vince takes up his invitation to play poker at the house of a man known as the Horse. The Horse offers Vince a cryptic and clearly illegal driving job, though it does come with a smart new car. Whilst kept in the dark about the nature of his first job for the Horse, it pays very well.