Obsessed with the notion that all African-Americans are not only inferior but also criminals, privileged prep school student Taylor begins desperately stalking a black classmate named Flint, waiting for him to prove his racist theory right. But when Flint strikes up a relationship with Taylor's sister, Matty, Taylor's hatred takes a violent turn.

18-year-old Angelina shuffles between school, a dead-end job, her exploitative boyfriend, and home, where her life consists of cleaning up after her alcoholic mother and protecting her younger sister from their menacing stepfather. After arranging an escape to San Francisco with her best friend Andrew, she soon finds herself dating a coke-addicted attorney and becoming immersed in the local porn industry, mentored by lesbian director Margaret, who has more than just a professional interest in Angelina's talents.

follows a young African-American man, Dwight Porter, an unwilling criminal on the run. After committing murder, Dwight grows remorseful and leaves his environment with a goal: walk across the United States in search of a former teacher, the one person who believed in him