In hand-to-mouth, Depression-era Brooklyn, Gene Keating is pressed for payment of a debt owed by his inept brother Harry, while at work he is falsely accused of taking kickbacks. He worries about the future of his children-Frankie and Vinnie. He and his wife Claire suffer terrible trials in having to abstain from love-making because of Catholic stricture on birth control. Catastrophe strikes when Gene is fired under pretext to make room for a relative. In a nearly non-existent employment market, Gene signs on as a door-to-door salesman. Meanwhile, the world is opening up to eleven-year-old Frankie, who is mystified by his feelings for Isobel Sheerin, in conflict with a consensus that girls are beneath the dignity of boys. When Gene fails in his sales job, he is forced to consider parceling out the children to relatives. But he and Claire rise courageously to overcome their desperate circumstances and restore the family to a life.