Two siblings struggling as vendors in 1930 Cleveland seek to better their lives...but while one woman, a bashful sort, decides to enter music, her domineering sister chooses a life of crime.

SYNOPSIS:

It's Thursday, July 31, 1930...an extremely busy day at the Central Market in Cleveland, Ohio, one of America's most Depression-devastated cities.

But apple vendors ELLEN WORKMAN and her sister FLORENCE can't get a whiff of traffic, let alone business. It's been a year since 24-year-old Ellen and 23-year-old Florence set out to follow in their late father's footsteps...despite the fact that he took his own life after losing all but one of his forty-five grocery stores because Wall Street laid that egg the previous October.

After Florence's and Ellen's only customer, HELGA, buys a couple of apples from the siblings, only to tell them they'll "never succeed as grocers," the sisters pack it in.

That night, thoughtful Ellen reluctantly drives bossy Florence down East Ninth Street so the latter can go "quail hunting." But the hunt turns out to be a murder-robbery at a service station.

When the Sisters Workman stop at a restaurant afterwards, an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer catches Florence's attention...and leads her to decide to follow in the direction of the article's subject, gangster RICARDO RINALDI, who "knows what he wants and how to get it." But that doesn't sit well with Ellen, who'd rather better her own life by becoming a nightclub pianist.

Nonetheless, the siblings go to an employment agency the next day...and end up working for a clever-with-words, sexy bootlegger named VALENTINA PERLOZZO, who put an ad in the Plain Dealer in search of truck drivers.

Once hired, gung-ho Florence and reluctant Ellen meet the rest of Valentina's gang: Brainy JOYCE ROBINSON; loyal, resourceful FANNY LAPIERRE; CLANCEY MCCONNAUGHEY, a cheerful, giddy locksmith unable to get a job on the outside in that profession due to her gender; humorous HEIDI WULFF, the best shot in the gang; and ALICIA ESPINOSA, a reserved teenager who can drive a car better than any guy can.

While Ellen repairs the siblings' car and the audition truck, Florence, Valentina, Ricardo, and numbers racketeer DON WINICK meet at Don's gambling house, the Orange and Black, where Ricardo tips everybody but a dispatched Florence on watching out for JAMES WOZNIAK, who's out to become Cleveland's safety director: "If he gets in, he's gonna put the screws on all of us." Ricardo wants to soft-pedal the violence.

Valentina's gang services a downtown club, the Aphrodite...where Ellen and awestruck, nerdy date HENRY HAWBAKER pay a visit. It's also where Ellen seizes the chance to feed her real calling: With no orchestra at the Aphrodite because the previous one ate all the food and left none for the customers, Ellen plays the club's piano...and gets hired by the nitery's initially-skeptical manager, STAVROS FARASOPOULOS. Before long, Ellen gets a singer: Henry himself.

Ellen and Henry are a hit together.

Speaking of hit...Valentina's gang, minus Valentina, who's back at the warehouse, pulls a robbery at the Aphrodite the next night.

And the club's pianist is in on the robbery...although she's reluctant about it.

To top it all off, Florence kills James after he pulls out his own gun.

Henry quizzes Ellen about the incident...but she won't spill the beans.

The gang divides the $1,800 it got in the holdup; Florence and Clancey drive off to deliver Alicia her cut...but when they find Alicia on the steps of the city's famous Old Stone Church, Florence kills the teenager for running out on the gang.

At the ensuing funeral, Ellen fears she'll be the next to eat bullets.

Meanwhile, Florence moves up in Cleveland's underworld. After Don finds out she got her own testimonial dinner, the vengeful racketeer vows to get her...but ONE OF HIS THUGS shoots the younger Workman's hands. And that leads to an invitation from Florence and Co. to "get your carcass out of town...now!"

For all practical purposes, Florence becomes the leader of Valentina's gang after not only gaining Don's land, but Ricardo's, too. And Valentina, Joyce, Clancey, Heidi, and Fanny help Cleveland's new underworld ruler celebrate at Florence's new house on Lake Shore Boulevard.

It turns into an almost-deadly confrontation between sisters when Ellen, having the time of her life making music, comes to the party.

Ellen flees her sister's house and drives off to Henry's bungalow...but Joyce and a now-drunk Florence follow her into the bungalow, where Florence gets cold feet about shooting Ellen for choosing music. In addition, detectives EDWARD GIACOBAZZI and RALPH WINOCKI follow the two gangsters into Henry's house.

Ralph and Edward get the scoop about the Aphrodite robbery-murder from Henry, not Ellen.

Eventually, the police shoot Joyce in the leg, arrest Valentina at the gang's warehouse, and catch Florence. What's more, Cleveland's Finest catch Florence in front of the building next to a radio store where...Ellen's and Henry's new mid-afternoon radio show plays over the store's loudspeaker.

The police kill Florence...but little do they know: Still lying on the ground, she manages to slither after her prone gun behind their backs.

GOT ANY MORE BULLETS, SISTER?