After a massacre onboard a ship docked in the LA harbour, Customs officer Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) interrogates one of the two survivors, the shivery "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey, then still mainly known for his acting). Kint describes how a group of very particular criminals came together for a job and how the spectre of the dreaded, possibly purely mythical, crime boss Keyser Söze hung over the whole endeavour.