Lucas is a young bum who lives under Brooklyn Bridge. Jacques is a choleric bar owner in New York. The two of them meet in hospital after Lucas tried to commit suicide and Jacques suffered his fifth heart attack. The bitter old man takes the shy loser home and gives him a place to stay, seeing a possible heir for his bar in him. Indeed, Lucas fits in very well amongst the regulars in the small, dark bar. But one rainy night a drunken young stewardess comes and sits at the counter. Lucas doesn't have the heart to put her out on the street, which marks a dramatic turning point in the relationship between the two men. In his first English-language film, Dagur Kári depicts a homey, old-fashioned New York. But it is the confrontation of two of the most conceivably different characters that render his out-and-out romantic film so heart-warming. Shot on location, but with an Icelandic team, "The Good Heart" is full of what Dagur Kári aimed for: "To mix humour with poetry and comedy with tragedy".