Promises To Keep

Sixteen-year-old Duane Neiheisel is put on academic probation from his high school basketball team. He is frustrated because a Jewish girl raises the academic level, causing him to feel he can't compete. After he and two Skinhead friends spray-paint her house with anti-Semitic words, they are involved in a car accident in which the driver is killed, another friend is seriously injured, but Duane escapes. He hides in a shack overlooking Cincinnati, where Tony, a homeless epileptic black man, befriends him. During their time together, they sneak into a Reds baseball game where Tony is offended by Duane's racial slurs, Duane experiences a meal in the Drop-Inn Center, is nearly beaten up by Tony's nephew's gang, observes a near rape, and watches a woman eating from a garbage can. Through Tony's influence, Duane comes to terms with his prejudice and makes an important decision regarding his future.