Chronicles the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov, from his early days in the early 1980s in Little Odessa to selling guns to mobsters in his local neighborhood, and through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 90s. He forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son. His relationship with his younger brother is somewhat volatile, he is married to a famous model, and he is relentlessly pursued by a determined federal agent and his inner demons sway between his drive for success and the immorality of what he does.