Jamaica Bay was New York City's dumping ground for decades. Towering landfills created surreal landscapes of garbage, while abandoned boats, piers and docks added to the eyesore- not to mention the occasional gangland hit victim. Saving Jamaica Bay tells how the residents of working-class Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods have developed and nurtured a close relationship with the body of water that has defined, provided for and, most recently, threatened their lives and livelihoods. In the process of rediscovering their historical relationship to the water and natural habitats of Jamaica Bay, residents have been transformed into urban environmentalists struggling to preserve this priceless resource... and their way of life.