Ray Ponti is a down and out father, a man trapped by his past and frightened of his future. Cly is a streetwise runaway, waiting tables by day and stripping by night. Both are fighting for existence in the slime-bowl of New York's gutters, where drugs and prostitution are the only currency. Ray is in over the top with the Mafia and Cly is emotionally destroyed by the absence of her father. Severence is a gripping story set against the seedy backdrop of New York City, where broken dreams and empty promises litter the streets.

When his grandfather dies, a young child is comforted by a friendship with an elderly man.