In inner-city 1980s Boston, a middle-school boy must care for himself and his baby half-brother when their mother runs away to Texas.

A young adolescent gang leader steals a flashlight, which helps him find a new way to see the gang activity in his city.

In a town so small it can hardly be called a town, a black woman serves a rich white family until a series of horrific events causes the single joy in her life to vanish.

A man recounts his life experience in New York, covering the various people near and dear to him, as well as the growth of the city itself.

In a dreary, hustling city, a spectator observes a lone preacher who stands on the sidewalk every day to enlighten his fellow men about God. After witnessing the preacher's assault at the hands of the police, the spectator becomes fascinated by the man's dedication and way of life.

An unhappy woman lives in the slums of New York only to watch her life transform as her children become wildly successful, catapulting her into an unrecognizable world of extravagance.

Three boys navigate their youth in Chicago, but are forced to grow up quickly when they start cooking drugs for money.

A hardworking Jewish family is assaulted by a local gang for their beliefs, resulting in the destruction of their business and exhibiting the apathy of the onlookers.

A mother struggles to provide her daughter with comfort in an unstable home as her husband constantly searches for new employment.

The aging matriarch of an inner-city convent struggles against the rising tide of drugs, poverty, and violence in her parish. The desolation initially drives her and her flock apart, but from an unaccountable tragedy arises a miracle that unites them in wonder.