Sol Nazerman, a Jewish pawnbroker and Holocaust survivor, lives in Harlem and runs a pawnshop. He is deeply scarred by his past, having lost his family in the concentration camps. This trauma has left him emotionally detached and bitter, creating a protective barrier around himself. Sol's only interactions are with his customers, whom he treats with cold indifference, and his assistant, Jesus Ortiz, who strives to learn the business. Despite Ortiz's genuine admiration and eagerness, Sol remains distant, unable to connect on a personal level due to his overwhelming grief and memories.

As Sol navigates through his daily routine, flashbacks of his harrowing past intermittently plague him. People in the local community—a mix of struggling individuals and criminals—frequent his shop, each interaction pushing him closer to confronting his suppressed emotions. An encounter with Marilyn Birchfield, a social worker who seeks to understand Sol's pain, begins to chip away at his hardened exterior. However, as tensions escalate in the violent surroundings of Harlem, Sol is forced to face the depth of his traumatic experiences and the lingering shadows of his past.