Inside his rundown, small apartment on the south side of Los Angeles, Franklin Franklin (Matt Lucas) dreams of spooning with his mighty alphorn deep in the tall grass beside a clear, alpine lake in the perfect nation of Switzerland. The only problem is, Franklin has just killed his landlord, Mr Olivetti (Peter Stormare) and needs to figure out how to get away with it.

Complicating Franklin's plans are his neighbours: Tommy Balls (Johnny Knoxville), the slacker pothead, Mr Allspice (James Caan), the old, nosy, know-it-all who monitors everyone's movements in the building and Francine (Saffron Burrows) and Simone (Juno Temple), the hard-working Milf and her daughter-who's nothing but hot, teenage trouble.

Just when things look bleakest for Franklin, when there seems no way for his escape and just as each of his neighbours close in on their own destiny, Franklin gets a surprise he never saw coming. And suddenly, that advice from his loony-bin brother doesn't sound so crazy after all.