It's 1909, and from the decks of the steamship bringing Freud and Jung to America, hundreds of immigrants strain for a glimpse of shore. The first thing they see is a light on the horizon that grows more fiery as they approach -- it appears that New York is being consumed by flames. As they draw closer, their alarm turns to amazement. This first searing image of the New World is not of a fire, but of the million electric lights of Coney Island's Dreamland amusement park, a sight as spectacular and unearthly as only the gates of heaven or hell might be. From one of these ships comes a young stowaway whose survival instincts seamlessly fit the needs of a small-time gangster on Manhattan's Lower East Side. While rising within the organization, he falls in love with a rabbi's daughter who works in a sweat shop. Their lives intersect with organizers in the nascent labor union movement and a corrupt political boss, leading to a magnificent and explosive conclusion.