When deaf teenager JAYLEN MURRAY continuously causes trouble at his public school, the PRINCIPAL finally gives his mother, TERESA JONES, two options: reform school or NCSDB (North Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.) Despite Jaylen’s protests, his mother chooses the latter.
NCSDB is situated close to a county prison, which brings back Jaylen’s traumatic memories of his father beating his mother and himself to cause his deafness. At the school, Jaylen refuses to talk to anyone except for the kind and beautiful guidance counselor, SARAH WILLIAMS, a former student at the school. She explains to Jaylen that she also used to be full of hate over her circumstances before she found religion and forgiveness. Jaylen is treated welcomingly by fellow students and track team runners JARQUAVIOUS, DEVON, and BILLY. Despite this, Jaylen still plots his escape from the school by studying the security guard, FRANK, doing his rounds. Little does he know that across the street, prisoners JIMMY QUICK and TERRELL plan to break free with new transfer WILLIE MURRAY. It turns out that Jaylen is a fast runner. Under the pretense of joining the track team, he swipes gate keys from COACH SCOTT. He befriends a blind student, MARCUS in shop class to make him copies. Jaylen tries to escape in the dead of night but gets foiled by Frank. The moment he tries again during practice aligns with the prison break and subsequent riot across the street. The school goes into lockdown, but Jaylen’s efforts leave a school gate breached.
The prisoners flood the school, intent on finding hostages. While a lot of students hide with Frank in the cafeteria, Jaylen rescues Marcus. With his hearing and Jaylen’s eyesight, they successfully avoid capture. The same can’t be said for Ms. Williams and other students. Frank gets injured in a scuffle. Outside the school, armed police led by CAPTAIN KELLY survey the situation and look to solve the problem to rescue the students. Jaylen and Marcus locate his new friends. The group of boys retreats to the shop class to forge weapons. However, Jaylen locates a ceiling hatch and uses the opportunity to escape on his own. But when he hears that his new friends are in trouble, he returns to help.
All of the boys get captured in the library with Ms. Williams and some other students by the prisoners. In this moment, Jaylen reunites with his dad, the prisoner Murray. When Jimmy Quick tries to assault Ms. Williams, Jaylen stands up for her. Outside, Captain Kelly and his team finally make their move. They bust into the library and take down the rogue prisoners. When Murray is shot, Ms. Williams tries to save him and encourages Jaylen to forgive him. Finally, Jaylen does so just as Murray passes. Years later, Jaylen returns to NCSDB to be the track coach, having successfully gotten his life on track.
