The two hour special looks at a time when New York City had fallen into decay and chaos. There were not enough jobs, not enough money, not enough police, not enough schools, and not enough social services. There was a city-wide blackout with major looting, a serial killer was on the loose, and the Bronx was burning.

Yet out of the chaos emerged one of the most creative times any city has ever encountered. NY77 looks at the newly emerging culture of the time - the emergence of hip-hop, the rise of graffiti art, the punk scene, the burgeoning disco movement and the sexual revolution. Director Henry Corra's vivid interviews with 1977 newsmakers and culture shapers, from Mayor Ed Koch to Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein, paint intense first-hand accounts of it all.