In hopes of emulating his hero Thoreau's Walden, a young man documents his life as he sets out from the family home to become a writer. In the Italian North End of Boston, where family, religion and food are of equal importance, he gets an apartment and a job working in a small grocery store. Surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of a busy city suburb, he writes sketches of local history and of the many characters who populate his new life. And he meets women - one of whom he can see a real future with. But does she feel the same?