After a heroin overdose kills his mom, Joshua "J" Cody moves to Southern California to live with his freewheeling relatives. The family's matriarch is J's estranged grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody, from whom he's been shielded for years. J soon finds out the reason for the isolation -- Smurf and "her boys" make their livings through carefully planned armed robberies and other criminal activities. Prominent perpetrators include Smurf's three sons: mentally disturbed ex-con Pope, hyperactive drug user Craig, and suspicious Deran. In order to stay alive, J must prove loyal to his beguiling grandmother, who rules with a borderline-incestuous love.