Joey, a resident of a Manila slum, is a GI baby. He doesn't know his American father. His mother, an ex-prostitute in Olongapo City (the American Military Base), is forcing the 17-year-old boy to capitalize on his good looks and bluntly tells him to marry a rich girl so that both mother and son will have a comfortable life - an idea he detests - and becomes the object of conflict between them. Joey is in love with Lory, a kind beautiful girl who lives next door but does not have the courage to tell her. He does odd jobs until he graduates from high school. He aches to get ahead, emancipate his mother, himself and the girl he loves, away from the slum, from poverty. But, the university is an expensive proposition. Desperate, he finally succumbs to what his mother has been goading him to do: use his good looks to whoever is willing to pay. It turns out that it is not only the women who are willing patrons.