Seventeen-year-old Greg "Slam" Harris thinks that basketball is his ticket out of Harlem, but first he must come to terms with many difficult realities of his life.
A coming-of-age novel about two gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. The Socs are wealthier and often beat up on the Greasers, including Playboy, his brothers Darry and Sodapop, and his friends Johnny and Two-Bit.