DEALING: OR THE BERKELEY-TO-BOSTON FORTY-BRICK LOST-BAG BLUES

Peter is a cocky Harvard law student, who is tired of being square, so his best friend and theater director John gets him into the drug business. Peter loves the excitement of the gig and agrees to transport a suitcase full of pot from his suppliers to him. As a fan of the Rolling Stones' song "Sympathy for the Devil", he picks Lucifer as his street name.

At the drug dealers' hideout, Peter meets Susan and falls for her hard, since she is the complete opposite of his somewhat prudish and stuck up square girlfriend Annie. Susan likes him too and agrees to take him to a train station to hide the dope in one of the lockers there. They hit it off quickly. When they arrive at the station they notice a military officer, who is overseeing a funeral transport for what seems to be a casket of a dead soldier from the Vietnam War. This sight gives the two cold feet, so they leave to spend a night together at one of her musician friends' place.

Peter then completes the job but soon asks John for another gig, since he really wants to see Susan again. However, the gig goes sour this time and the girl is busted with forty bricks (or kilos) of marijuana by police sergeant Murphy, who happens to be a dirty cop in bed with Cortez, a dangerous Cuban gangster. John wants his dope back and Peter wants to save Susan, so they come up with a risky plan that eventually involves a round metal casing full of red heroin which everyone wants and is glad to kill for.

The plan to recover the lost marijuana bricks escalates, drawing Peter, John, Susan, and others into a dangerous showdown involving a round metal casing full of red heroin, the police, and a Cuban gangster.

The conclusion underscores the perils of amateur drug dealing and the tangled web of crime, betrayal, and shifting loyalties. Peter’s arc from law student to unlikely participant in a criminal underworld is cemented by the failed plan and the introduction of an even deadlier substance. The ending leaves the characters changed by their choices and the consequences of venturing far outside their comfort zones.