1923. After her American husband is killed in the war, British born Christie Roades (Redgrave) buys a bookshop on the outskirts of New York in a bid to start a new life. She intends to live quietly, while slowly building out a new life and, hopefully, forgetting the old one she left behind.
She moved to the wrong side of the city. It turns out that Christie is labelled as an outcast. The gangs of the New York streets don't like people like her. They smash her windows, yell at her in the street, and, on more than one occasion, pull a gun out on her.
Yet someone is watching out for her. Notorious gang leader Frank Richards (Smith) has gained an obsession with Christie, and sees it his duty to save her life. As gangster after gangster takes a shot at her, he seems to be falling deeper and deeper into her story.
And as Christie starts to uncover more and more about her link to Frank and the streets he seems to own, it's seeming less and less likely that both, if either, will make it out alive.