Searching for his missing brother, an obsessed drifter must infiltrate a tightly knit band of commuters onboard a mysterious bus route to gain the trust of their charismatic leader and find the truth. Devin Marlowe, a troubled man with a turbulent past, rides the Nite Loop 818 bus, late one night, and disembarks into a dark alley leading to an industrial complex, the Factory. An explosion follows as the bus drives off. Devin is never seen or heard from again.
Deacon Marlowe, an obsessed drifter, arrives in town, a man on a mission, seeking to locate his missing brother. He checks into Devin's seedy hotel room looking for clues, and receives a chilling warning from the Night Manager, "some folks don't want to be saved."
Deacon boards the Nite Loop hoping to follow in Devin's steps and uncover clues in his disappearance. He encounters a late night gallery of graveyard shift workers, insomniacs, and assorted weirdos on society's fringes.
Among the "mulagaloons, larrupins, and lost causes" in his midst, he encounters Jenna, a waitress with a heart of gold at an all-night diner, and Cassidy, a sagacious security guard at the Factory where he hopes to find work.
The driver, Tracy "T-Roe" Roebuck is a hardened cynic who has seen it all along his route through "The Loop", a dark circuit of inner-city decay, which includes "The Point", a wharf area rife with prostitutes, "The Shanty", a skid row-like homeless encampment, "The Projects", a gang infested apartment complex, and The Factory, a shady front company run by mob capo Tony Brancato.
On Deacon's first ride, the bus is detoured due to a crime scene, where grizzled veteran Lt. Marv Hatcher has caught the latest victim in the Merlin Murders, a series of serial killings targeting prostitutes along The Loop.
Edgar Jade then boards, from all appearances, nothing more than a disruptive homeless person harassing the passengers. If the tightly knit band of nocturnal commuters is a cult, then the charismatic Jade is their messiah. A merchant of chaos, nocturnal power broker, and bottom feeder extraordinaire, like a circus showman he flamboyantly corners passengers, persecuting those who he deems in need of a lesson.
Deacon becomes convinced that Jade knows what became of his brother, and who the mysterious Merlin is, the rumored "man behind the curtain", whom Jade reports to. Each passenger must pledge loyalty to Jade and provide him some service, be it info, money, or access in order to go about their business.
In order to gain Jade's trust, Deacon must take part in an escalating series of crimes along the route, which include armed robbery and dealing drugs. As Deacon descends deeper into Jade's game, he falls for Jenna, who seeks to find her estranged daughter Amber, now a prostitute at The Point.
Deacon vows to help, but in order to meet Merlin, he must take part in a brazen heist at a notorious night spot co-owned by Brancato in order to secure a secret trove of blackmail videos that pose a threat to the corrupt Mayor, Glen Rankin.
The heist is a success but comes at a great cost. Brancato grabs up both Jenna and Amber and demands an exchange at The Factory. Before Deacon can go, an undercover cop within the Nite Loop crew emerges, and forces him to meet with Merlin instead.
Deacon must ride the Nite Loop to the Projects and deliver the goods to Merlin in hopes of finally busting the nefarious man of mystery... but what he finds will shake him to his core and make him question everything, including his sanity.
The NITE LOOP...
Tonight's iteration is upon us.
