In Toronto’s crime-filled neighbourhood of Prohibition-era Kensington Market, a family of would-be gangsters tries to support themselves by running a speakeasy out of their domineering mother’s basement.

When a murder is committed and a job goes wrong, the family is suddenly flung into the high-stakes gangland world of American organized crime.  In order to survive, they must overcome the ghosts of their past, and plot their uncertain future.

Set against the backdrop of the roaring twenties, the Great Depression, and one of the biggest riots in Canadian history, Tough Jews is the story of an immigrant family’s struggle to rise above their station in a violent, intolerant city.