Mobster"Baby Face" Martin returns home to see into the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mommy, who rejects him as a result of his gangster lifestyle, along with his previous girl friend, Francey, now a syphilitic prostitute. Martin crosses paths with Dave, also a childhood friend trying hard to make it and the Dead End Kids, a bunch of boys roaming the roads of the eastside slums of their city.