The black-and-white film tells the story of a young African American man raising a small child after her father is murdered.
[3] An impecunious and homeless young black sidewalk artist in the Manhattan slums finds himself in charge of a three-year-old girl who has been orphaned.
Though with severely limited prospects for being able to care for the precious and vulnerable child, the artist manages through pluck and luck to protect, shelter and feed her through a series of adverse events and adventures during which he displays a striking ingenuity and himself attracts a lover.
The film ends in a night scene at a street trash fire around which an assortment of bums and derelicts warm themselves in winter while panhandling passersby, conveying a message that there exists among the downtrodden an admirable nobility of spirit.
The consensus summarizes: "Sidewalk Stories' sweetness is somewhat undermined by the movie's broad approach, but it remains a comedy with heart -- and something to say.