When two teenage brothers move to Newport News (aka Bad Newz), Virginia, in the late '90s, they discover poverty is the monster no one can escape in this underserved, mixed race community.

SYNOPSIS:

For EPHRAIM "RAY" JOHN, 17, and his little brother AMOS "MO" JOHN, 11, moving in 1997 from a life in the Big Apple to a suburb down in the real South is the worst thing they could ever imagine happening to them. But they soon learn locals call Newport News, Virginia, the Bad Newz for good reason, and they need to learn the ropes fast if they plan on surviving in this underserved, mixed-race community.

Their neighborhood is literally teeming with kids, and they barely get out the door of their parents' minivan before kids start showing up on the front lawn asking to play basketball on the hoop in the driveway. It's a great start to a new life until DONNIE DEATH — a troubled youth who earned his nickname for making death threats almost as often as he starts fights — shows up and ruins the game. The confrontation gets out of hand, and the next thing Ray knows, he's made an enemy of the most dangerous kid in high school before he's even unpacked.

Luckily for Ray and Mo, the kids on their block have their back. Ray quickly falls in with nextdoor neighbor KEVIN and his high school clique, ATTICUS and ROB. JAN, the best middle school baller Mo has ever seen — and a short Filipino girl to boot, takes Mo under her wing, introducing him to TODD, the king of the kids on bikes, and EWAN.

The John kids settle in peacefully until Mo's gang spots Donnie Death walking the streets and Todd convinces them to follow him on their bikes. They lose track of Donnie behind an old department store, but discover the bully has been living out of a car parked there. Against Mo's protest, Todd starts poking around, and Donnie returns to find the kids have discovered his secret. He catches Todd and threatens to cut him with a blade, but Jan and Mo knock him over and they escape, Donnie swearing to kill them all as they ride away.

Ray is more worried about his first high school party than why his little brother has become so sullen. He gets his first taste of alcohol, weed and girls in the Bad Newz, and the next thing he knows he's freestyle rapping and running around naked for reasons he can't entirely explain. It's all good until Todd's bad-apple older brother, SCOTT, tricks Ray into taking him to a place where he can buy crack. Cops bust the deal and Ray gets hauled in. The police let Ray out of serious charges, but his parents have no such pity and ground him pretty much forever.

Mo finally confesses to Ray that he and his friends are in trouble. To protect his little brother, Ray appeals to his friends that they have to stop Donnie's reign of terror. Rob, who Donnie has bullied for years about being a closet homosexual, agrees to jump Donnie on the school bus with Ray. When the moment comes, Rob starts the fight but Ray chickens out. Rob wins the fight, but Donnie makes more death threats. And this time they seem serious.

Rob is furious Ray left him to fight Donnie alone, and at Kevin and Atticus for refusing to get involved. Atticus' ongoing girl problems help bring the group back together, and Ray and Kevin sneak out of their houses while still grounded for a quick run to Rita's Italian Ice with Rob and Atticus. Rita's is closed when they arrive, and worse, Donnie Death spots them from his car/home. Donnie ambushes them in the parking lot and holds them at gunpoint, ready to make good on his threat this time. But Kevin's stepdad, BILL, who followed them to find out where Kevin was sneaking off to, arrives just in time to knock Donnie out from behind. The neighborhood's Donnie problem is finally solved when the cops lock him up on illegal firearm and assault charges, but Ray, Mo and their friends have only just started walking on the razor's edge between good times and danger in The Bad Newz.