In the mid-1930s, under the cover of darkness, two thieves are robbing the Needleman residence in Queens, New York when the telephone rings. One of the crooks answers and is asked by the host of a radio program, Guess That Tune , to name the titles of songs the orchestra plays. The thieves correctly identify three tunes and win the prize. When the Needlemans later return, they find their home ransacked, but the following day a truck pulls up and delivers brand new furniture, the winnings from the game show. In the present, Joe, a former neighbor of the Needlemans, recalls how the radio was constantly playing when he was a child in the Rockaway area of Queens. He admits he romanticizes the past, but he loves old radio stories. He collects anecdotes, gossip and inside stories about radio stars, but also remembers his own experiences. For instance, his mother, Tess, never missed her favorite show, Breakfast with Irene and Roger . While Tess washed dishes, she listened to the married Irene and Roger discuss the elegant opening night they attended the previous evening. As the radio couple in their chic Manhattan townhouse talked about their sophisticated lifestyle, Joe came to learn about two contrasting worlds--the glamorous stars working in Manhattan broadcast studios, and more humble folk, the listeners living in the outer boroughs. Joe has other memories of long gone radio days: His Uncle Abe brings fish from Sheepshead Bay to his Aunt Ceil, who dreams of better things than filleting flounder. Joe's teenaged cousin, Ruthie, listens on the telephone party line to the phone conversations of the Waldman family next door. Every morning Joe's Grandpa helps his Grandma fit into her corset. Tess and Joe's father constantly bicker about any subject, but are united in refusing to reveal to Joe what his father does for a living. They also tell Joe not to listen to the radio so much and when he argues that they listen, Tess explains that the older generation's lives are already ruined. Joe's favorite show is the Masked Avenger, but he is unaware that the bold and courageous hero he admires is really a short and bland actor. Determined to get the Masked Avenger secret compartment ring advertised on the show, Joe pretends to collect funds for the new state in Palestine on behalf of his Hebrew School, but schemes to spend the money on the ring. The Rabbi calls in Joe's parents for a conference, but things go badly when Joe refers to the Rabbi as his "faithful Indian companion," a phrase he learned on a radio show. Although Joe's unmarried aunt, Bea, has high hopes for a big date with her new acquaintance, Sidney Manulis, her romantic interlude is interrupted by Orson Welles's War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Mr. Manulis, terrified of a Martian invasion, bolts out of the car and leaves Bea to make a long walk home on her own. Meanwhile, at a sophisticated Manhattan nightclub, Roger and Irene listen to the sounds of a popular Latin band. Wanting to rendezvous with Sally White, a cigarette girl who wants to be an actress, Roger sneaks off with her to the rooftop. When the door locks behind them, Roger and Sally are unable to return until Irene and the Latin playboy with whom she has been dancing, also sneak up to the roof. Although Sally gets fired for abandoning her post during her work shift, Roger, Irene and her Latin playboy go to Havana to share a hotel suite. While observing a Jewish high holiday, Joe's family members are offended that the Communists next door, who don't recognize holidays, play the radio loudly. Abe goes to their house to confront them, but instead becomes convinced of their arguments and breaks his fast by eating a large meal with them. However, the heartburn he experiences afterward prompts him to return to his former ways. Everyone in Joe's family has a favorite radio show. Abe likes sports programs and Ceil enjoys a ventriloquist on the radio, a notion that makes no sense to Abe. Ruthie and her friends love the voice of a romantic crooner, while Joe's parents listen to The Court of Human Emotions , in which ordinary people are helped with their personal problems. Joe has a fantasy that his parents make an appearance on the show and the host, hearing them bicker, concludes that they deserve each other. Aunt Bea likes music shows, and she and her date take Joe to a broadcast at Radio City Music Hall. In later years, songs that Joe first heard on the radio will evoke vivid memories for him. When Sally gets a job as a coat check girl in a nightclub run by mobsters, she witnesses the murder of the club's owner. The hit man grabs Sally, planning to knock her off, but first takes her home to his mother. When the mother realizes that Sally's family is from her old neighborhood of Canarsie, Brooklyn and that she is not bright enough to cause trouble, she tells her son to spare the girl and get her a job on the radio. Despite her Brooklyn accent, the mobster gets Sally cast in a Chekhov play, but her radio debut is canceled by news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Sally eventually sings publicly at a USO dance hall. Now, Japanese and Germans are the villains on radio shows, and Joe and his friends enjoy following the radio exploits of the character, Biff Baxter G-Man, who suggests his listeners keep a sharp eye for enemy planes. The boys, sharing a set of binoculars, watch from the rooftop, but instead of spotting national enemies, they see a woman at a nearby window, disrobing as she dances to the radio. Later, the boys walk on the beach, where Joe alone sees what he assumes to be a German submarine surface and submerge. Some time later, Joe's school principal introduces a substitute teacher, Ms. Gordon, who the boys recognize as the woman at the window. At home, the family listens to wartime broadcasts of Americans fighting Nazis and the Japanese at Guadalcanal. Tess, now pregnant with a second child, suggests to Bea that she lower her standards in her pursuit of a husband. Late one night Joe wakens to hear Bea talking to her date, Fred. When she confesses she has a "crush" on him, Fred breaks into tears and describes his strong feelings for a guy named Leonard. After taking diction lessons to lose the Brooklyn accent, Sally is cast in her own celebrity gossip show, Sally White and Her Gay White Way , in which she relates stories, including sightings of Clark Gable at El Morocco and Rita Hayworth at the Stork Club. Joe is given the task of taking the family radio to the repair shop. After struggling down the street with the heavy appliance, he hails a cab and is stunned to discover his father behind the wheel. Although his father is ashamed of his occupation, Joe is not and gives him a big tip. When Tess goes into labor, Bea and her date take Joe into Manhattan, where they visit an Automat and the broadcast of the Silver Dollar radio show. There, Bea wins fifty dollars by correctly answering questions about fish, using knowledge she gleaned from Uncle Abe. With the money, Bea purchases a chemistry set for Joe, which he uses to dye his mother's fur coat. Joe's father gives him a whipping, but stops beating him when a radio report announces the story of a child, Polly Phelps, falling down a well. The entire nation listens and mourns collectively upon hearing the news of Polly's death. On New Year's Eve, Joe's family celebrates at home. At the Manhattan nightclub where she used to work, Sally celebrates with the stylish crowd she once served and invites her companions to join her on the roof. Above Times Square, the group admires the city. Although they express hope for 1944, some comment how quickly time passes. Sally's date, the actor who achieved fame playing the Masked Avenger, wonders if future generations will hear about them. When the clock strikes twelve, everyone, whether in Manhattan or Queens, feels joy. In the present, Joe says that he has never forgotten that New Year or the voices of the people on the radio, but he admits that with the passage of time, their voices grow dimmer.