The film is primarily based on three of Miller's works. The Hard Goodbye: About a man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time sweetheart's killer, killing anyone, even the police, that gets in his way of finding and killing her murderer; The Big Fat Kill: Focuses on a street war between a group of prostitutes and a group of mercenaries, the police, and the mob; and That Yellow *****: Follows an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer. The film stars an ensemble cast including Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Carla Gugino, Rutger Hauer, Jaime King, Michael Madsen, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Bruce Willis and Elijah Wood, among others.