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Elwood Curtis’ college dream is shattered on a Florida two-lane highway. He suffers the guilt of an innocent misstep and is sentenced to the underworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory deep in the Jim Crow South. He meets another Ward, Turner, the one who has seen it all. The two black teenagers form an alliance: Turner offers basic advice on survival, Elwood holds on to his optimistic worldview. Against the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence seems a far cry from the polished oratory of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood fights to maintain his humanity, which awakens a new vision for Turner.