John A. MacKay

High school student Sam Adams has just moved to a new house in a sleepy, all-American town. His new school seems perfect at first and he is quickly accepted onto the football team. But something about his fellow players seems a bit off, particularly the brutish and arrogant Jack "Boot" Butkowski. As Sam soon discovers, the team have appointed themselves as dictatorial leaders of the school, openly modeling their behaviors after the SS and terrorizing anyone who doesn't fall in line, while rewarding those who pledge blind allegiance. When Sam's unwillingness to submit results in a violent attack on an elderly family friend, he decides to take matters into his own hands...

En 1966, Rubin Hurricane Carter rêve de devenir champion de boxe. Un soir, dans un bar, sa vie bascule. Une fusillade éclate et Rubin Carter se retrouve à tort accuse d'un triple meurtre. Condamné à la perpétuité, il décide de canaliser sa frustration et son désespoir en entreprenant de faire connaître, depuis sa cellule, son histoire au monde. Malgré la publication de son autobiographie, Carter reste derrière les barreaux. Des années plus tard, un adolescent noir convaincu de l'innoncence de Carter correspond avec lui et met en place une campagne visant à lui rendre sa liberté.

Trois amis entretiennent de dangereuses relations qui auront des répercussions sur eux dix ans plus tard.