in "cookie", a mafia story, the primary focus is on the relationships between single mother, lenore, her teenage daughter cookie, and absentee crime-boss father, dino, along with his wife, bunny, reunited when he's released from prison. in dino's absence, the women have learned to survive on their own and profane, independent cookie supplies the solution to dino's desire to go straight—resulting in a feminist family comic-drama within a gangster story.