A coming of age story about five teenagers growing up in Harlem New York in the 1980's. It is the beginning of a new generation of kids called the "hip hop" generation, which unfortunately was growing up alongside the "crack cocaine" generation. Karon falls into a deep sleep after his graduation in 1985. Having dreams within dreams takes him into a realistic drama along with his potential future in the 1990's as a drug selling youth. His fast money attitude serves as the detriment to the community and ultimately his best friends become caught in the crossfire of his illicit activity. He awakens back in 1985, realizing the "easy way out" that was offered wasn't a glorious new beginning, it was the end.

In an imagined battle between the United States and the fictional Latin American country of Cubuchilia, an American soldier has control over water resources and news media on both sides of the war. This depressed white soldier profits monetarily by the continuation of the war, and therefore ensures the battle endures through his power over the water and news. Inadvertently, he causes all the soldiers on both sides to perish, and thus the war ends. He then, through his media control, presents himself as the hero of the conflict and the savior of the United States.

Two strangers—neighbors, it turns out—meet in the quiet churn of a laundromat on a bleak afternoon. One carries a secret. The other, a strange proposition. As the machines spin, a fragile moment of connection teeters between awkwardness, confession, and the possibility of unlikely friendship.