After a hard day's work collecting garbage, Roc Emerson looks forward to relaxing at home with his family. Instead he argues with his live-in father, Andrew, and finds his wife, Elanor, leaving for her job as a nurse at the local hospital. Worse, his younger brother, Joey, whom Roc hasn't seen for five years, arrives at the door penniless, homeless, and unemployed.

While Roc and Joey attend a baseball game, their father, visits Franke, an old friend who is dying at a local hospital, To ease his guilt, Frankie confesses that he once had sex with Andrew's wife and may have fathered one of Andrew's sons. Outraged and furious, Andrew demands to know which son, but Frankie dies before he can reveal the truth.

Roc encounters trouble when he arranges a romantic evening with Eleanor.

When Roc learns that Leon, a veteran garbage collector, is being forced to retire, Roc tries to comfort the old man. Thinking years of being alone and unappreciated have made Leon bitter, Roc decides to give Leon a retirement party to show how many friends he really has. Roc's father is hurt by the idea. He spent 35 years as a train porter, and no one ever have him a party.

When unemployed trumpet player Joey can't pay his gambling debts, he begs his older brother for a thousand-dollar loan. Roc refuses to come to the rescue, even though Joey promises to change. As a test, Roc gets Joey a legitimate job with the sanitation department, and promises to pay the debt if Joey can keep the job for two weeks.