On his 25th birthday, The Kid, an unpublished novelist, finds himself in a dark bar, drinking alone, and experiencing a quarter of a life crisis. He strikes up a conversation with The Bartender, an older veteran of the bar, who is the only person remaining after last call. Venting to The Bartender about his current existential crisis they both end up drinking together, but when The Bartender goes to make sure everything is cleaned up for the night, he returns with a .38 Special Snubnose Revolver, also known as a "Saturday Night Special", and informs The Kid that someone must have left it behind. The two speculate where the gun could have come from, all the while they continue to drink, which makes things quite chaotic once the Kid decides to pick up the gun.

Set in an alternate 1980s, where our anti-hero Henry Violence becomes entangled in a brutal drug war as rival cartels battle for supremacy, forcing him to make difficult choices to navigate the treacherous landscape.