In a back street in the rough end of Philadelphia, docker William Kerrigan obsesses over the mysterious suicide of his sister. Into a dive bar walks Lorretta Channing the beautiful, enigmatic socialite and sister of Newton the drunk. Loretta's the impossible dream, the escape route out of his hellhole existence, away from the crowded tenements, the shacks, the dark alleys. But Loretta may also hold the key to finding out what promptd his sister's death, the reason he can never break free.The Moon in the Gutter is a fierce and heated tale of desire and revenge. Made into a film starring Gerard Depardieu and Nastassia Kinski, it remains an enthraling classic of American noir fiction.