from the back cover:
A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.

O. Henry's famous short stories - sensitive, funny, sympathetic - give us vivid pictures of the everyday lives of these New Yorkers.