As the civil rights movement roils the nation, in a quiet Illinois city, Wilbert Walters goes solo to uplift his race by launching Aurora Sundowners Track Club for marginalized Black girls. He sets out to teach the fundamentals of excellence and to prepare his athletes to thrive in a world preset to believe they are extraneous. On the way, they take Junior Olympic medals.

Coach Walters chronicles the glories and defeats of his life to a White author as both set out to understand what it all means. It is his true story of living two lives simultaneously. In one, he is esteemed and awarded. In the other, where he is invisible, disaster hits twice. The second time, he is prepared.

This complex, indomitable hero is Everyman. His truth belongs to anyone who has fought to be heard, anyone who is baffled by the story of race in America, and anyone who believes every child has potential.