Dagur Kari's character study The Good Heart follows crusty old bar owner Jacques (Brian Cox) as he trains a generous young homeless man named Lucas (Paul Dano) to take over his beloved bar. Jacques suffers from a very bad heart, and understands that any day could be his last. However, this does not stop him from chain smoking, drinking nonstop, and hurling an endless stream of poetically vulgar insults at the regulars who gather at his establishment every night. As the two begin to slowly influence each other, Lucas falls in love with April, and Jacques insists that women have no place in his bar.