Ray (Adrien Brody), Mike (Michael Gallagher) and Butchie (Tony Gillan) have grown up together in the streets of Bloomfield, New Jersey, sharing lives, hopes and dreams in their working class neighbourhood. At twenty three, Ray is a smooth shoe salesman, but he dreams of being the "somebody" his father never became. He wants it all - marrying his childhood sweetheart Joanne (Sybil Temchen) and his own business and that requires a bankroll far beyond his meagre income. Ray's dreams and expectations prove too much for his friends and himself to aspire to, and how long will it be until he pushes them too far from his own gain?