The seamy Jewish underworld of Odessa is the setting for Isaac Babel`s classic story based on the life of gangster king Mishka Yaponchik "Mike the Jap" Vinnitsky. Murder is a way of life for Benya and his gang, profiting from their criminal activities until the Russian Revolution and the local commissar assigns them emergency powers, making them a "revolutionary" regiment, complete with tattooed red stars. But things backfire for Benya as he finds himself ensnared in a Bolshevik trap.