Recounts the fortunes of a Scottish youth, abandoned when his ship sails without him, in the Fourth Ward slums of lower Manhattan during a period when political gangs ruled the city through threats, bribery, and crime.
The 16-year-old king of New York's newsboys, a staunch supporter of Boss Tweed, enlists the help of his friends throughout the city to find out who is responsible for a disastrous fire.
Captured by slave traders, a young Ibo girl, her brother and their fellow villagers suffer hardships and cruel treatment on their way to the New World where they are sold as slaves.
