Mummy Cat & Little Kitten are cuddled up in their barn on a silent winter's night.
One by one they are visited by
'I could've had class. I could've been a contender. I could've been somebody.' Former boxer Terry Malloy & his brother Charley, the crooked lawyer known to all as 'the Gent', are members of the tough, mobster-connected New York Longshoremen's Union, run by Johnny Friendly. Johnny & his goons rule the waterfront with an iron fist. If you want to stay alive, you do things Johnny's way & plead 'D 'n D'
- deaf & dumb. Terry, seen by most as a slow-witted, washed-up fighter, is happy to do any work he can get. But when he is caught up in one of Johnny's rub-outs & meets Katie, sister of the murdered man, a conscience begins to form. Together with the idealistic but tough-talking Catholic priest, Father Peter Barry, Terry & Katie attempt to take on the gangster-ridden waterfront. But Johnny Friendly & his men don't take kindly to ratting, & their attempts to undermine the mob may come at a severe cost.