Heat opens with a vision of a woman named Mrs. Cora who walks toward the train stop across the street from Yankee Stadium. Baseball and the train are “the two constants” (1) in her life. As she reflects on the importance of baseball in her life, a boy hits Mrs. Cora from behind and steals her purse, which carries the 100 dollars she will use to buy food. Mrs. Cora yells at the boy to stop. As neighbors help her up, they call for the police. Mrs. Cora sees a policeman chase after the thief, whose name, she later discovers, is Ramon.

Ramon, a Dominican teenager from the South Bronx, is “not the smartest sixteen-year old” around, but he is also "not the laziest" (2). Confident in his speed and too disinterested to want to work, Ramon tends to steal to make pocket money. The day that he steals Mrs. Cora’s purse, the police officer chasing him is fat; Ramon wants “to laugh his head off” (3) watching the man try to catch up to him.

But as Ramon passes through Macombs Dam Park on his way home, something hits his head and knocks him down.