Born into extreme poverty and emotional deprivation, James Edward Plummer was blessed with a genius I.Q. and a love of science. As he struggles to survive his childhood in some of the toughest cities in the country, James adopts the hybrid persona of a "gangsta nerd" – dealing weed in juke joints while winning state science fairs with computer programs that untangle the mysteries of Einstein's relativity theory. When his prodigious intellect gains him admission to the elite Physics PhD program at Stanford University, James finds himself torn between his love of science and a dangerous crack cocaine habit he developed in college. With the encouragement of his mentor Art Walker, the lone Black faculty member in the physics department, James finally seizes his dream of a life in science and becomes his true adult self, changing his name to Hakeem Muata Oluseyi in honor – and celebration – of his African heritage.