The play is set in 1950s America, in an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
It employs a chorus and narrator in the character of Alfieri who cut out due to the camera operation.
Eddie, the tragic protagonist, has an improper love of, and almost obsession with, Catherine, his wife Beatrice's orphaned niece, so he does not approve of her courtship of Beatrice's cousin Rodolfo.
Eddie returns home one afternoon with the news that Beatrice's two cousins, brothers Marco and Rodolpho, have safely arrived in New York as illegal immigrants.
He has agreed to house them saying that he is honoured to be able to help family.
Marco is quiet and thoughtful, possessing a remarkable strength, whereas Rodolpho is more unconventional, with plans to make a career singing in America.
Marco has a family starving in Italy and plans to return after working illegally for several years, whereas Rodolpho intends to stay.
Although Eddie, Beatrice, and Catherine are at first excellent hosts, cracks appear when Rodolpho and Catherine begin dating.