In Utica, New York, a garbage truck driver nicknamed “Clean” is a garbage collector in a decaying urban residential neighborhood filled with criminals. During his job, he collects usable parts and after work, he salvages, repairs, and sells them to a thrift shop owned by one of his acquaintances. Since divorcing his wife, Clean has lived alone in a workshop while his daughter has long since died. He is always haunted and tortured by the memories of what happened to his beloved daughter and the crimes he had committed in the past. He prepared a meal the next morning for his neighbor, a teenage girl named Dianda, who is living with her grandmother.

Meanwhile, a man named Michael is waiting for his son, Mikey, outside the prison gates. As Michael was about to go and meet his son, Mikey is instead picked up by his friends and drives away with them. Annoyed with Mikey’s behavior, he decided to let it slide. While picking up trash in the evening near a seafood restaurant owned by Michael, Clean notices Michael and his armed goons are in the middle of a drug trafficking deal which they smuggle through the fish’s body from China. However, Clean continued to do his job as usual. Michael is upset that the Chinese suppliers have shorted him five pouches of cocaine, totalling 200 grams.

The next morning, Clean sees Dianda walking down the street and was told that her school bus no longer operates in her area due to service cuts. He offers to drive Dianda to school. After sending her to school, Clean dropped off a bike at Dianda’s house that belonged to his daughter. However, Dianda’s grandmother, Ethel, came out and asked why Clean was so concerned about her. Clean replied he did it to save himself from the guilt that always tormented him. Following this, Ethel tells him that he’s a nice guy. But Clean responded back that he’s not.

At Michael’s restaurant, he beats one of his Chinese partners to death for shorting him on the cocaine. Mikey, who saw his father’s actions was silent in horror by his father’s cruelty. That evening, Clean notices the blood and the glasses of Michael’s partner that he brutally murdered while emptying the trash container. As he empties the container, Michael suddenly appears behind him and apologizes for the stench. He tries to offer some money for Clean, but Clean refuses and continues doing his job.