In the summer of 1988, twelve-year-old Chuck Bell is sent to stay with his grandparents, where he discovers jazz and basketball and learns more about his family's past.

Dylan's wish comes true when Coach Scott names him to the starting lineup for the Mountview High Hunters' first game of the playoffs. But just when he should be concentrating on basketball, Dylan becomes the target of some off-court aggression. As he's driving his girlfriend, Jenna, home one night, a black pickup truck tries to run them off the road. The police call it an accident. But even as Dylan tries to put it behind him, he has a sense of impending...

When eighth-grader Chris's older brother, Jax, is caught betting on the pick-up basketball games that Chris and his friends play, Chris becomes involved in the police investigation.

Since his mother's death, Jayson, twelve, has focused on basketball and surviving but he is found out and placed with an affluent foster family of a different race, and must learn to accept many changes, including facing his former teammates in a championship game.

Mo's latest obsession is basketball. He's determined to learn how to pass, but as the shortest member of the team, he can't seem to launch the ball high enough.