It’s three days until Christmas and Junior Bender,
Hollywood’s fasttalking fixer for the felonious, is up to
his ears in shopping mall Santas, Russian mobsters,
desperate holiday shoppers, and (’tis the season) murder.
The halls are decked, the deck is stacked, and here comes
that jolly old elf. Junior Bender, divorced father of one
and burglar extraordinaire, finds himself stuck inside the
Edgerton Mall, and not just as a last-minute shopper (though
he is that too). Edgerton isn’t exactly the epicenter of
holiday cheer, despite its two Santas, canned Christmas
music, chintzy bows, and festive lights. The mall is a
fossil of an industry in decline; many of its stores are
closed, and to make matters worse, there is a rampant
shoplifting problem.
The murderous Russian mobster who owns the place has decided
it takes a thief to catch a thief and hires Junior—under
threat—to solve the shoplifting problem for him. But
Junior’s surveillance operation doesn’t go well: as
Christmas Eve approaches, two people are dead and it’s
obvious that shoplifting is the least of the mall’s
problems. To prevent further deaths, possibly including his
own, Junior must confront his dread of Christmas—both
present and past.