Three teenage friends get into a fight, and one of them accidentally gets killed. The two remaining girls promise each other to keep silent. As the police get more and more suspicious, the mother of one of the girls gets into a crushing dilemma: protect her daughter or see justice done.

When two poor Greasers, Johnny and Ponyboy, are assaulted by a vicious gang, the Socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events.