The owner of a London cabaret club with a penchant for gambling gets badly in debt to gangsters and is forced to kill a man to settle the amount he owes them. (A modern, London-based reimagining and homage of Cassavetes, "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie").

SYNOPSIS:

ALBION is the proud owner of an old-school Cabaret in London and he also happens to be a voracious gambler, placing bets on fights, and sports results as well as taking part in various card games, whenever the opportunity arises. He is involved in two romantic relationships, which he makes sure are kept hidden from each other, first with ISADORA, a dancer working in his club, and with RITA, a soft-spoken, homely woman who Albion stays with from time to time. Albion is a smoker but finds himself early on in this tale not able to indulge in this activity for one unfortunate reason after another.

ANDREAS, the owner of a poker house, takes a liking to Albion and invites him to gamble at his place. Albion takes him up on the offer, and ends up owing a huge amount of money. Andreas’ poker house is owned by Greek gangsters and Albion is in the unfortunate position of not being able to pay back his debt.

The gangsters give Albion a few days for him to pay the money back but Albion goes on with life as if nothing is amiss and comes up with a brand-new performance for his club. Soon though time catches up with him as some ‘heavies’ beat him up in the street and take him to their boss for a word. Albion is given a way out of his predicament by the Greek gangsters. They tell him that they will forget about the money he owes but that he will have to kill a Russian low-life hustler called Vadim; that has betrayed their trust. They tell Albion that if he refuses them, they will burn his joint and kill every single person that he has ever cared for. Reluctantly Albion heads off to the address given to him to do the hit but it turns out that Vadim is actually more than a simple hustler- he is a full-blown Russian gangster. After a big and bloodied battle with his guards, Albion manages to shoot VADIM dead in front of his wife; but does spare her life.

Albion returns to his normal life in the club and oversees the development of the new show but the Greek gangsters want him out of the way as he is a liability. Andreas is ordered to kill Albion but instead, he meets up with him to warn him that his life is in danger. Andreas has decided to leave the country and tells Albion that he has to do likewise. Albion doesn’t want to run though, and he heads back to his joint in time to see the premiere of the new show, just as big, dark windowed cars arrive near the joint. Albion sits back as the show begins, lights a cigarette, and inhales deeply.

ALBION