In New York's Little Italy of the early 1970s, four friends of various shades of morality hang out together. Michael is involved in importing unlicensed goods; Tony owns the bar where they all hang out; Charlie is preparing to take over a restaurant owned by his mobster uncle, Giovanni; while the near-psychopathic Johnny Boy is an irresponsible liar who owes money all round the town and gets his kicks throwing firecrackers in postboxes, and is often being bailed out by Charlie. The boys fight with each other, get drunk together, brawl and generally get up to no good, but matters come to a head when Michael reaches breaking point with Johnny Boy's behaviour, and not even Charlie's efforts can save him.