Tommy takes up temporary housing in a New York neighborhood plagued by a violent gang called the Souls. Tommy is waiting for his next assignment as a seaman and though he tries to avoid the gang and his neighbors, it does not work. Soon he is battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well.
Art Dodge is a painter-turned-gallerist drowning in debt. He gets in over his head when a con job leads to an engagement with a rich divorcee. He gets in deeper when he falls for her sister, and invents a twin brother to be her beau; and deeper still when his fiancée's ex-husband comes looking for revenge.
The accidental shooting of a boy in New York leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.