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Line of Events

Elwood Curtis’ college dream is shattered along a two-lane highway in Florida. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he is condemned to the underworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reform school deep in the Jim Crow South. He meets another inmate, Turner, who has seen it all. The two black teenagers form an alliance: Turner offering basic survival advice, Elwood clinging to his optimistic worldview. Against the backdrop of the growing Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence seems worlds away from the polished oratory of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood struggles to maintain his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.