Black Leather and Blue Denim is a '50s novel about greaser gang conflict in Levittown, Pennsylvania. J.W. narrates the story.
J.W. (age twelve) and his family move into the Dogwood Hollow section of Levittown in the spring of '54. He soon makes friends with Carnie, the neurotic son of a carnival barker, and Tinker, a mechanically inclined, vindictive kid with destructive tendencies. The three boys are picked on and harassed by older greasers from Kenwood, another section of Levittown.

In April of '54, the Fairless Hills Steel Mill opens, and the Caracas, a Venezuelan ship is carrying the first iron ore from South America up the Delaware River. Students from area schools are invited to wave linen American flags on sticks at the vessel. Four people in the front row accidentally fall into the Delaware River as the Caracas is passing by. Two of them are Angie Palermo and Bubbles Messina. The two girls and their Mafia families blame J.W. and Carnie for pushing them over the bulkhead into the river. The event causes many future conflicts between the girls and J.W.