Fievel Mousekewicz and his family sail to America on the promise that there are no cats and the streets are paved with cheese. A storm sweeps Fievel overboard, and he washes up in New York alone while his family, believing him drowned, stops searching. What awaits on arrival is an immigrant reality far removed from the dream: sweatshop labor, cramped tenements, gang extortion, and yes — plenty of cats. Fievel must find his family on his own in a city that has no interest in making it easy.