Augie Manetti is a small-time Chicago hustler who yearns to be a made man in La Cosa Nostra. To that end he married Cathy Musso, the niece of Salvatore "Artie" Musso, a capo in the New York Marzullo crime family. Although his union with the mafioso's niece has yielded little in the way of criminal advancement, Augie and Cathy's marriage has produced a super-talented, but troubled, singer, Tina, who is on the threshold of opera stardom. When Augie's brother, Mimo, marries the beautiful Helen Simone, who comes from a family of successful lawyers, a chain-reaction of action-packed events begins that threatens everyone involved. When Augie thinks he is on his way to "making his bones," he discovers too late that he, his brother and his daughter are only pawns in the vicious gangland battle between Artie Musso and the evil Parigi brothers. Also casualties of this war are Augie's love affair with the mysterious New York madam, Cassandra Davis, and Tina's romance with special forces warrior-turned hit man Al Colucci. When the worlds of big-time opera and organized crime collide, the result is a series of raw sexual interludes and brutal and violent scenes.