Former student Ken Carter returns to his troubled old school, Richmond High, as head coach of their unsuccessful basketball team. But Carter doesn’t just want to make them successful: he wants to change their lives and help them get to college. Carter’s team deliver success on the basketball court, winning the regional championships. But when he discovers that a number of his team have been skipping classes or failing to achieve the required academic standards, Carter imposes a ‘lock-out’ to prevent them playing until their grades improve.