Mick O'Brian (Sean Penn) didn't mean to kill anyone. Sometimes accidents happen in his tough world. When the brother of the person he killed ends up in the same jail for attempted rape of Mick's girlfriend for revenge, he must fight for his life. Paco Moreno doesn't care what it takes to get revenge on his brother's killer, he simply wants it. Backed into a corner, Mick does the only thing he can and comes out fighting, til death if he must. This film takes a look of the street youth in the early 1980's and the grim realities of what these inner city kids faced on a daily basis. Mick was never a saint and didn't claim to be, but a killer?