the movie shows the events before and after a robbery at a jewelry shop in los angeles, california, that went wrong. the men are given nicknames with colours so that they do not know each others names; mr. blonde (michael madsen), mr. blue (eddie bunker), mr. brown (quentin tarantino), mr. orange (tim roth), mr. pink (steve buscemi), and mr. white (harvey keitel). they work for a gangster joe cabot (lawrence tierney) and his son, "nice guy" eddie (chris penn).