Bill, an intellectually disabled man, ventures out into the world for the first time, having spent most of his life in a dreary inner city institution. He is taken in by a kind family and learns what it means to love and be loved for the first time in his life.
Mario, a gangster, takes the fifth amendment when being questioned by the Senate Sub Committee on his connection with racketeering within the juke box industry. While in a small New Jersey town, teenagers Bob, Judy, Ginger, Seymour and Betty go to the train station to pick up Judy's cousin-from-Tennessee, Lulubelle . They take her to their local hangout, a pizzeria called "Mom & Pops", a broken down place ran by a couple named Mom and Pop.
An Italian woman faces challenges at JFK Airport when Customs confiscates the mortadella sausage she brought as a gift for her fiancé, leading to a humorous and frustrating ordeal.
During the last years of World War II, Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie are coming of age. They went their separate ways when they graduated from high school in 1944. Benjie joins the Marines as Hermie and Oscy enter college. There, Hermie falls head over heels for another freshman named Julie, and the two old friends deal with a troublesome fraternity president who is in charge of hazings.
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.