Publisher's presentation : In the segregated Florida of the 1960s, young Elwood Curtis takes Martin Luther King's message of peace to heart. He is ready to enter college to pursue a brilliant education, but his dreams for the future are dashed when, following a miscarriage of justice, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school committed to turning delinquents into honest and honorable men . But in reality, it's a nightmarish place where the residents are subjected to the worst abuses. But Elwood finds a valuable ally in Turner, with whom he becomes friends. But the idealism of one and the skepticism of the other will have heartbreaking consequences.