The plot concerns a black teenager living in a predominantly white environment and having trouble coping as he reaches an age at which the realities of racism are beginning to affect his life more directly and pointedly than they had in his childhood.

Adapted from the Broadway play by Louis S. Peterson, the film stars Johnny Nash — who would ultimately become more well known for his singing career, including the hit song "I Can See Clearly Now" — as the lead character, Spencer "Spence" Scott.

[2] Spencer "Spence" Scott (Johnny Nash) is a 17-year-old black high school senior who has lived his entire life in a middle-class white neighborhood of an unnamed city in the northern United States.

Spence confides in "Gram" (Estelle Hemsley), his ailing but wise grandmother, but he cannot face the prospect of telling his parents (Frederick O'Neal, Beah Richards) what has happened, so he decides to leave home, catching a bus into a black neighborhood.

Although he is intelligent and well-read, he finds that his academic knowledge doesn't carry him far as he approaches an attractive older woman in a bar (Ellen Holly), presenting to her a very logical case as to why he'd be a good boyfriend, and assuring her that he'd be willing to marry if they were to fall in love.

He is disillusioned to discover that the woman is unhappily married and wants only to find a man in the bar who has some money and a nice car, so that she can have a one-night fling with him to temporarily escape from her troubles.

She also criticizes their emphasis on providing him material comforts, as opposed to spending time with him, as evidenced by the fact that they are completely unaware of his having recently become something of an outcast among his peers.

He proposes that, because Christine is lonely also — she is a widow, her only child was stillborn, and she is probably over 1,000 miles removed from any of her family — they might find some happiness together for a short time, even if their age difference precludes a long-term relationship.