It ought to be just a game, but basketball on the playgrounds of Coney Island is much more than that - for many young men it represents their only hope of escape from a life of crime, poverty, and despair. It is their last shot. This is the story of a small group of high school boys who have given their young lives to basketball, as neighborhood stars and as team members of the Abraham Lincoln High School Railsplitters, consistently one of the best teams in New York.

They dream of a college scholarship and escape from the neighborhood. What they have going for them is athletic talent, grace, and years of dedication. But working against them are an educational system that has woefully failed them and family circumstances that are often desperate.