Joe and Nikki grew up on the West End corner of Bristol, CT in the late 50's and early 60's. Bristol was a tough town, and the West End was the toughest place to live. There were bookies and gangsters all over the place. Joe was eleven, lived on the West End and scared to go down to the corner. His dad built him a shoe shine box and told him to go to the corner and shine the bookies' shoes. He did, and met Nikki, a Greek girl who also lived on the corner, and was as scared as he was. He took her under his wing and both of them ended up shining on the corner.