None-too-bright Texan Joe Buck (Jon Voight) leaves his small-town home, fancying a life as a gigolo, and heads to New York City. After being tricked out of twenty dollars by physically disabled unsavory type Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman,) Joe finds himself homeless and quickly running out of prospects.
Ratso and Joe end up living together in a condemned apartment building. No, they're not gay -- Ratso is vehemently homophobic, while impressionable Joe fills the loneliness in his life with random sexual encounters. While Joe is naive beyond belief, Ratso is shady and opportunistic, but by the end you manage to see the good in both of them.
