When Virgil Bliss, a mild mannered Southerner and career criminal, is released from prison after 12 years, he finds himself on the mean streets of Brooklyn at a halfway house trying to build a new life. That's where Virgil meets Manny, a fiery troublemaker who initiates the emotionally naive Virgil in the ways of the world. Manny introduces Virgil to Ruby, a junkie and a prostitute, and Virgil falls instantly in love. As the Seattle Post Intelligencer wrote of Virgil Bliss, Its milieu is authentic, the supporting performances are frighteningly believable, and Clint Jordan creates a tragic hero of heartbreaking nobility.