Leonard Covello came to New York City from a small village in Italy in 1896. He and four other young immigrants, including Rose Cohen, who came to America from Belarus at age twelve, and Pauline Newman, who became one of the first organizers of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, are the focus of this fascinating chronicle of the pursuit of the American dream. At turns poignant and humorous, the characters' stories unfold in chapters focusing on work, education, and other aspects of immigrant life in the tenement houses of the Lower East Side of New York City.