Joe Farrow's public face is in a New York theater. But behind that respectable facade is a ruthless man who runs a string of craps parlors. When one sore loser threatens to bring his illegal games down, Farrow kills him. One of the stray bullets hits Marc Fury, a player who has limited financial resources remaining. Farrow cooks up a scheme to get out of the murder rap. He offers Fury $50,000 if he will take the rap and stand trial. He has a group of witnesses set to claim Fury killed the man in self defense. Farrow tries to renege on the money, so Fury steals a ledger with information that could put Farrow behind bars. While being pursued, Fury slips the ledger into the possession of an immigration social worker, Lynn Warren. True to the plan, Fury is acquitted but Farrow has managed to inform immigration officers that Fury is an illegal alien and should be deported. This way, he won't have to pay the $50K. Federal agents arrest him, take him to Ellis Island and threaten to deport him; neither he nor his parents ever become naturalized citizens when they immigrated from Italy. Fury tracks down Lynn Warren and, though the two are drawn romantically to each other, she does not believe his desire to remain in America is well-placed. She is even more convinced when Fury cons her into helping him grab the promised money from one of Farrow's parlors in New Jersey. Farrow's gunman comes looking for Fury, but ultimately double-crosses his boss. When Fury offers the $50,000 to a family of European refugees that longs desperately to remain in America, Lynn begins to trust him.
—Garon Smith