The Fall of the American Empire

With a Ph.D. in Philosophy in hand, Montrealer Pierre-Paul Daoust, from a working-class background, is an intellectual who believes that being one only gets in the way of happiness, emotionally and/or financially. That's why he feels stuck in a dead-end courier delivery job, and that's why he feels he couldn't make a go of a relationship with his last girlfriend, Linda Demers, or any woman, not knowing how to relate to them in a humanistic manner as opposed to intellectual manner. But that's also why he volunteers for a charity for the homeless. While making his usual deliveries, he stumbles onto a robbery gone wrong. Sensing an opportunity with one of the robbers and the security guard shot dead and the other robber having escaped to tend to his serious injuries before getting caught, Pierre-Paul, on impulse, grabs and abscond with the two large sports bags filled with millions in cash before the police or anyone else arrives on the scene. The business robbed was acting as a front for money-laundering by the Irish-Jewish West End Gang by Vladimir Francois, the head of his own gang. Not knowing what to do with the cash, Pierre-Paul ends up making associations with two people who fall on the illegal side of the law. One is Sylvain Bigras--nicknamed the Brain--just released from prison as a money-launderer for a biker gang. The other is a woman known as Aspasie, one of the most expensive high-end prostitutes in Montreal; he initially contacts her to spend some of that cash fulfilling his sexual needs, choosing her from her online profile because her name is associated with the world of philosophy. Especially in falling for Aspasie, who is all-professional in her business, Pierre-Paul has no choice within his nature but to believe in human trust in dealing with his new associates. But as the three of them try to figure out how best to deal with the money, they must contend with the police--Detectives Pete La Bauve and Carla McDuff--who suspect Pierre-Paul; La Bauve in particular needs to show his superiority because he's been feeling let-down in his position in life. Vladimir and the West End Gang will do whatever it takes to get their money--just ask young Jacmel Rosabert, the robber who was able to get away and who was only hired to do the job in the first place.