Mike Gold grows up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York, in the 1890s. The streets are always teeming with life, including politicians, criminals, and poor families trying to get by. Many poor people live in the neighborhood, including a large community of Jewish people who have fled oppressive regimes in Europe. The deeply religious Jews do not find themselves in the promised land they expected. Instead, they are surrounded by criminals, prostitutes, and degenerates. They accept that there is nothing that they can do, so they shrug their shoulders and say to one another that “this is America” (15).

The children of the Jewish community band together. Mike and his young friends gather on the sidewalk and make mischief. They play games and tease the prostitutes who lines the street. One of the women complains to Mike’s mother, Katie, who chastises and beats him for being disrespectful. The next day, Mike celebrates his fifth birthday with his family. He goes with his mother, his father, Herman, and his sister, Esther, to have a family portrait made. That evening, the family throws a party. The adults drink alcohol and talk about life in America. Eventually, their conversation turns to the violence they faced in Europe.