Henry Smith was the best card player alive until his rival Lip Orville framed him for a crime and killed his brother David in the same stroke. With nothing left, Henry goes underground. Sophia pulls him out of the wreckage and gives him a new name: Carl, janitor at a backroom casino in Chicago.
For a while, mopping floors keeps him alive. Then Lip returns, this time with the mafia behind him, and mob boss Don Bazzini drags Carl back to the tables. Henry has to play the game that destroyed his family, against the man who destroyed it, while hiding who he really is. One wrong hand and the revenge he's been quietly building dies with him.
