In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?

At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert the building into a posh flat. But Elgar is not one to be bound by yesterday's urges, and soon he has other thoughts on his mind.

On his wedding day, in the few remaining hours of his bachelorhood, Barney Kempinski goes off to tour the city and sing his song to life, love and the city of New York.