Life is tough for Mickey Tucker. The white sixth-grader and his bedridden mother live in a trailer park and struggle to make ends meet with their monthly welfare checks.

Mickey's circumstances take a turn for the better, however, when he meets Abe Loomis, a resourceful black man and former Navy SEAL. A fast friendship forms and Abe begins filling the fatherless void in Mickey's life.

One day at school, Mickey uses a lesson he learned from Abe and outwits a privileged eighth-grader. Feeling slighted, the boy starts bullying Mickey and uses his social power to get Mickey suspended.

A few years later, Mickey enters high school only to find the wealthy boy waiting... unrelenting... still consumed with malice. The rivalry resumes and Abe steps in to advocate for Mickey. The drama that ensues raises the ire of the boy's mafia-linked father. The ruthless businessman retaliates, dead set on destroying Abe and Mickey. Now, living in the cross hairs, Abe will have to utilize all his skills, and then some, if he and Mickey are to survive.