Robert X. Golphin

For most of his life, Dominique was raised by a single mother. In the months after Dominique’s mother married William, Dominique resented his new step-father for making him share the only parent he’s ever had. After Dominique’s crush asks him to the winter formal, the black West Virginian teenager decides to track down his biological father who he hopes will teach him how to tie a tie before the dance. When Dominique tracks down his dad, the man berates him demanding to know if he’s “a faggot”. Unable to answer, Dominique’s dad publicly disowns him. Determined to live in his truth, Dominique heeds his mother’s advice and resolves to finally connect with his step-father and learn how to be his own man and how to tie his own tie.

During the summer of 1999, a group of teenagers, through interconnected narratives, live through their last day of high school and prepare for the future. Holly, once the new girl in school, does whatever it takes to remain popular. Dawn, who is secretly a lesbian, battles drugs. Tori is the valedictorian of her class, but, on the eve of graduation, she decides to experiment with drugs for the first time.

The true story of a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African-American college students into a historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite.