Probably without knowing it, Jimmy Angelelli is an emotional wreck of a man in being pulled in several different and often conflicting directions, some of those having to do with his parents and their control over him and thus his loyalty to them in return. One direction is in working for his loan-shark father, mafioso Ben Angelelli, as one of his more effective collectors, although Jimmy will not ever go as far as killing someone for not paying. Another direction is in his love for music; like his institutionalized mother Ruth he is a talented classical pianist, hence his nickname "Fingers." He especially loves
Johann Sebastian Bach, whose "Toccata in E Minor" he can play to perfection in the confines of his apartment. He plans to use that piece to audition for Ruth's old friend and colleague Arthur Fox to perform in concert at Carnegie Hall. His musical predilection runs a wide gamut; he always carries around a mini boombox to listen primarily to Motown tunes of the 1950 and 1960s, playing his favorite songs as he wanders around his New York neighborhood, the tunes blaring regardless of the locale. Another direction is meeting what he deems his own physical needs in a sexual sense, which don't always mesh what his brain is telling him. This issue causes complications as he pursues Carol, an artist he spots in his neighborhood, she who has her own complicated existence especially as it concerns Dreems, a club owner. Jimmy's tightly-wound existence has the potential to snap. What form will the trigger take, and how will the snap manifest in his life?
—Huggo