Rick Heller is a juvenile delinquent who keeps getting himself into trouble. To keep him out of trouble his mother puts him to work cleaning the cage of a gorilla named Katie which she is teaching to communicate through the use of sign language. When the owner of the gorilla takes her back to become a flea market freak Rick takes it upon himself to break Katie out and take her on an adventurous journey to get her out of the country.
Angie lives in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and dreams of a better life. When she finds out she's pregnant by her boyfriend, Vinnie, she decides she'll have the baby; but not Vinnie as a husband. This turns the entire close-knit neighborhood upside-down and starts Angie on a journey of self-discovery.
Edward's father walked out on his family years ago. In the years since, his mother has become a fundamentalist Christian and fallen for the school's self-righteous principal, Henry Howland. When Howland begins to mistreat Edward's mother, Edward's troubled older brother decides to get revenge. Now, Edward must protect his family from his brother's wrath.
