Phil, an unemployed man, sits at a bar drinking coffee. He watches a drunk man at the table next to him. The man tries to hold his check in one hand and take out cash from his pocket with the other. Phil watches him and is reminded of his poverty and desperate need for money. Phil is trying to land a job at a publishing company owned by a friend of his. However, he has no clean clothes because the local laundromat is holding onto them unless he can pay for them. Phil catches the man across from him unexpectedly dropping a dollar bill. It falls under the table, and Phil patiently waits for the man to walk away. As the man stands up, a woman quickly swoops in and sits down at his table. She and Phil lock eyes, and when the man leaves the bar, Phil lunges for the dollar bill in an attempt to get it before she does. However, as he grabs the bill, the woman slams her boot onto it. They both agree to a coin toss to decide who gets to keep the money. Phil uses his coin, declaring that if it lands on heads, he keeps the dollar. Phil wins the coin toss and notices a look of dread fall upon the woman's face as she realizes she has lost. The woman begrudgingly congratulates him, pays her bill, and leaves the bar. As the woman leaves, Phil flips his coin over to reveal that both sides were heads. Knowing that he cheated her out of the money, he feels a sudden wave of shame. Phil quickly catches up to the woman across the street. He grabs her arm and insists that she should take the dollar. After she refuses to take it, Phil admits that the coin he used had heads on both sides. Phil tells her why he needs the money, but that he feels selfish for playing unfairly. She tells him that it doesn't matter, and regardless, it is his now. The woman encourages Phil to get his clean shirts with the money, and walks away, leaving him alone. Phil suddenly felt shaken knowing that she is extremely poor but still helped him out. He thinks of the dollar as dirty and unearned, feeling desperate to get rid of it and the ingrained image of the woman walking away.