Nick Romano lives in a poor tenement building on the south side of Chicago with his well-meaning but drug-addicted mother, Nellie. She encourages him to pursue his piano-playing talent in hopes that it will bring him a better life. Nellie's neighbors, like the alcoholic ex-lawyer who secretly loves her, help her in keeping Nick away from Louie, the resident drug dealer. But a chance meeting between Nick and Louie could change things forever.

• Columbia Pictures
• Burl Ives
• Shelley Winters
• James Darren
• Jean Seberg
• Ricardo Montalban
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Rodolfo Acosta
• Philip Ober