Directed by choreographer Kenny Ortega (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay written by the writing team of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, it is loosely based on the New York City newsboys' strike of 1899.

Unlike most newsies, the brothers work to financially support their family, as their father Mayer lost his factory job after being injured.

David motivates the dejected Manhattan newsies ("Seize the Day"), who consequently ambush the distribution center and destroy the newspapers.

Pulitzer's enforcers, brothers Oscar and Morris Delancey, capture disabled newsie "Crutchie", who is placed in an orphanage and juvenile detention center called the Refuge, where the sketchy Warden Snyder neglects the orphans to embezzle money the city provides him for their care.

After Denton puts the story on the front page of The Sun, the ecstatic newsies imagine potential fame ("King of New York") before planning a rally.

During breakfast with Sarah atop the Jacobs' apartment building, Jack explains his desire to flee to Santa Fe, and wonders if she would miss him.

Snyder testifies against Jack, revealing his real name as Francis Sullivan; his mother is deceased and his father incarcerated.

Jack is sentenced to four years of rehabilitation in the Refuge, while Denton is reassigned as a war correspondent, unable to report on the strike.

Pulitzer offers to waive Jack's sentence and pay him a salary if he works despite the strike, or he will have the other newsies thrown into the Refuge.

Though the newsies are shocked and dismayed to see Jack at work the next day, he rescues the Jacobs brothers when the Delanceys attack their sister, knowingly breaking his deal with Pulitzer.

The leader of the strike was a one-eyed young man named Louis Balletti, nicknamed "Kid Blink", who spoke with a heavy Brooklyn accent that was often phonetically transcribed when he was quoted by newspapers.

Kid Blink is featured in the film as a minor supporting character, while the role of strike leader is given to the fictional Jack "Cowboy" Kelly.

The actual strike ended with a compromise: the World and Journal agreed to buy back all unsold copies of the newspapers.

Disney Theatrical Productions produced a stage musical based on the film that played at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, starting on September 25, 2011, through October 16, starring Jeremy Jordan as Jack.