The main events depicted take place in the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Hilary Swank, a new, excited school teacher who leaves the safety of her hometown, Newport Beach, to teach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, a formerly high achieving school which has recently put an integration plan in place. Her enthusiasm is rapidly challenged when she realizes that her class are all "at-risk" high school students, also known as "unteachables", and not the eager-for-college students she was expecting. The high school students self-segregate into racial groups in the classroom, gang fights break out, and eventually most of the high school students stop attending class. Not only does Swank meet opposition from her high school students, but she also has a difficult time with her department head, who refuses to let her teach her high school students with books in case they get damaged and lost, and instead tells her to focus on training their discipline and obedience. Not a single person believes in these students except Mrs. G and Ms. Gies. When the students get to meet Ms.Gies they each get to listen to her story and each of theme