- Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Henry Thomas
In 1860's lower Manhattan, the Five Points section is a dark, teeming corner of the
city known for vice and chaos. Into this frontier of lawlessness arrives the young
Irish American, Amsterdam Vallon. Amsterdam is the orphaned son of the slain Priest
Vallon--once chief warrior of the Dead Rabbits gang that rallied the Irish immigrants
of the Five Points. After 16 years in a "House of Refuge," Amsterdam has returned
to the Five Points to hunt down his father's killer. His target is William Cutting
(aka "Bill the Butcher") who has since become the merciless new leader of the neighborhood
and detests the newly arrived immigrants. Each year, on the anniversary of Priest
Vallon's death, the victory is commemorated with a celebration--with invitations
handed out by way of the Butcher himself. Amsterdam's plan is clear: to lie in wait
and slay his father's killer. While waiting for that night, Amsterdam works his way
deep into the Butcher's inner circle, a world of alternating honor and cruelty from
which he can only hope to escape. But the closer he gets to Bill, the more he falls
under his spell and becomes conflicted--playing the role of the man's surrogate son
while keeping the true secret of his past in the shadows. At the same time, Amsterdam
meets Jenny Everdeane, an enigmatic pickpocket whose fierce independence fascinates
him. When details of her closely linked past with Bill the Butcher emerge, the relationship
between the three intensifies. Amsterdam's fight for family honor, freedom and the
woman he loves ultimately collides with a pivotal moment in New York and American
history: the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots. This uprising, fueled by new Americans like
Amsterdam, will have repercussions that will spread through the Five Points to the
halls of Government and beyond, and reveal a tenacious spirit in the city that endures.
