A boy, barely a man, Martin Caine is thrust by the winds of tragedy and circumstance from a safe, loving home, into the rough edges and underbelly of the streets of 1970's New York City; a dog-eat-dog world where crime runs rampant, and only the strongest survive. A middle-aged immigrant, counselor, and father, Ian Ennis has built for himself a fragile, yet hopeful future in America, but finds himself still torn by the haunting of his own turbulent past, as a former member of a violent Irish paramilitary resistance group. What will happen when these two incompatible forces of nature, with nothing in common but a longing for inner freedom, belonging, and a dream, finally meet? Will Martin and Ian succumb to the darkness they find deep inside themselves, and each other? Or will they, with the help of a beautiful and mysterious woman, who brings in her wake echoes from a time seemingly forgotten, irrevocably change each other's futures for the better? Only one thing remains clear - destiny has woven together mentor and student, master and apprentice, and when all is said and done, their lives will not be the only ones that will be left impacted forever, for better or for worse...