| Director | Nicolas Cage |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, drama film |
| Runtime | 110 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $4 million |
| Box office | $132,221 |
Sonny (Franco) is the son of Jewel (Blethyn), who runs a small brothel in the early 1980s New Orleans, Louisiana. Sonny returns home from the navy, staying with his mother while waiting to start the job a Navy buddy of his promised him. Jewel tries to convince Sonny to return to work for her as he had before the navy, saying many of his old clients still miss him and that he was the best gigolo she had ever had.
Sonny repeatedly turns her down, wanting to leave that life behind. However, the promised job never materializes, and he is forced to return to working for his mother. Jewel has recently recruited a new girl to the brothel, Carol (Suvari), who meets Sonny and falls in love with him. They talk of getting out together.
One of Carol's clients, an older man, proposes to her. She initially declines, hoping to go away with Sonny. She and Sonny fall out as he fails to try to get out of the business. Instead, he becomes increasingly introverted and depressed, with occasional outbursts as he looks for more work. Ultimately, Carol accepts the marriage proposal, and Sonny unravels as he realizes his father—upon his death—had been with Sonny his whole life but declined to reveal himself for fear of being thought a loser, and Sonny and Carol fail to live happily ever after.