Boston, 1992. David Greenfeld is one of the few white kids at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School. Everybody clowns him, girls ignore him, and his hippie parents won't even buy him a pair of Nikes. To Dave's surprise, he strikes up a friendship with Marlon Wellings, who confounds his assumptions about black culture: Mar is nerdy and neurotic, a Celtics obsessive whose favorite player is the gawky, white Larry Bird. But as Dave welcomes his friend into his world, he realizes how little he knows about Mar's. Cracks form in their relationship, and Dave starts to become aware of the breaks he's been given—and that Mar has not.