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Elwood Curtis’ college dream is shattered beside a two-lane highway in Florida. Bearing the burden of an innocent misstep, he is banished to the underworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory deep in the Jim Crow South. He meets another ward, the experienced Turner. The two black teenagers form an alliance: Turner imparts basic survival tips, Elwood clings to his optimistic worldview. Against the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights movement, Elwood’s and Turner’s lives seem miles away from the brilliant oratory of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood tries to retain his humanity, awakening a new vision in Turner.