A wounded man makes a desperate call, reporting that a gunman is holding a coffee shop hostage and shooting anyone he pleases -- but when the SWAT team shows up, the madman opens fire. Through flashbacks, a waitress serves an array of customers, all of whom are blissfully unaware of how their lives will be horrifically changed.

Two young men who have been friends since early childhood decide to go on a trip to find a third friend who has long since disappeared. Stories they have heard indicate that the friend has been seen in an apparently rambling, incoherent state at Coney Island. Their trip leads them to a number of adventures involving the otherworld-like life at the Park and revelations related to their own pasts including the death of one's sister, a failed past relationship, financial failings, and alcoholism.