Born into poverty in Southern Italy, Salvatore Rosselli stumbles upon success in America after giving up the search for the cousin who murdered his father in their native town of Apulia. Having pursued his father's killer to Naples and then New York City, Salvatore meets Renata, a beautiful young woman from Rome, while hunting for Gatto Rosselli on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1925. He falls in love, and Renata agrees to marry him if he gives up his quest for revenge. He capitulates, marries Renata, starts a business, and raises a large family. Blessed with good fortune in the new world, Salvatore is nevertheless tormented by his vow to avenge his father's death. His opportunity finally comes thirty-eight years later, when Salvatore, an ailing middle-aged man, is resting in a deserted public park. But a strange, final twist of fate convinces Salvatore to forsake vengeance and when his end comes a short time later, he has at last found the peace that has eluded him for so long.