A vicious lie plunges robert robinson's life into darkness. as he prepares for his freshman year of college, he tries to put his tragic past behind him and move forward. but suppressed sexual desires ignite when he meets jelin church, the best friend of his roommate, shawn collins. shawn collins, the star shooting guard for the pcu tigers, has dreams of making it into the nba, but those dreams are threatened when illegal recruiting gifts surface. now he must choose between advancing his career or destroying his best friend, jelin. jamal lewis, a brilliant freshman on an academic scholarship, has plans of earning an mba and opening a community development center in newark, new jersey. but when his father unexpectedly dies, jamal is confronted with an offer from shawn's basketball coach that seems too good to refuse. one by one, their lives are entangled in a web of deceit. a tragic racial-profiling incident exposes their secrets, potentially ending their dreams. in order to survive, robert, shawn, and jamal must confront their inner broken places, work together to fight the forces threatening to destroy them, and prove the bond of friendship is stronger than hatred.