On a rash quest to track down his girlfriend Mary, nave Irishman Sean Kelly becomes embroiled in the hellish wasteland of the 1980s Bronx. He stays on, determined to uncover the reason behind the sudden change in Mary. But the only job available for an undocumented Paddy is hard labor, and the only solace is found in beer and music. A vibrant, colorful evocation of New York City in the watershed years through the eyes of four young Irish immigrants, Rockin' the Bronx captures the visceral realities of life and death in the Irish slum-scape on Bainbridge Avenue. Faced with the excesses of the early 80s: drugs, aids, the Burning Bronx, and at home, the Troubles, Sean eventually emerges into manhood.