In 1924, Pasha Chevalsky is a 16-year-old Russian immigrant struggling to make it in New York City's Lower East Side. Forced to leave his home by invading Soviet forces, Pasha lives in a tenement house and cares for his widowed mother and sickly younger sister. As if being a poor immigrant wasn't bad enough, Pasha sold himself to a street gang known as the Breadwinners to help support his family.