The movie starts with the killing of two man. And moves to a bus terminal where a a young man is approached by Goodkat (Bruce Willis), who tells the story of Max, a family man who bets borrowed money on a fixed horse race. Unknown to Max, the mobsters financing the fix discover others betting on it and, to set an example and solidify their reputation, murder Max and his entire family. As Goodkat concludes the story, he promptly snaps the man's neck.

In New York, Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) answers the door to his friend's apartment and meets bubbly neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu), who observes that Slevin is not Nick Fisher, the apartment's renter. Relating to her a sequence of events that lead him to Fisher's apartment, Slevin confesses he has not seen Nick, and that the apartment was unlocked when he arrived. Lindsey expresses concern over Nick's absence and vows to investigate his disappearance before leaving for work. And plunges in to action.

Later Sleven was kidnapped by Morgan Freeman's men, later is asked to pay $96,000 or to kill Yitzchok the Fairy, the homosexual son of rival Jewish mafia lord The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley). But Slevin is still clueless why he need to get involved in this. Since he is not Nick as the way he was identified.

Later Slevin returns to Nick's apartment, where he is kidnapped by two more henchmen who take him to The Rabbi, who also mistakes Slevin for Nick and demands he pays Nick's sizeable $33,000 debt to him within 48 hours. As Slevin leaves, Goodkat appears and confirms with the Rabbi their contract to kill the Boss. This set the suspense high. Why nick is missing, why does he owe money. Why Slevin is in the way. All this leads to the past when Slevins father and his mother were killed failing to pay the debt. And Slevin was ordered to be murdered by the Goodkat. And Goodkat took Slevin along with him instead of murdering him. And later returns to play a game with the two Bosses.

There are few places you would think that you have lost the story, but the missing bits and pieces fall in place as the movie proceeds. It is a shear crime thriller film..