After serving eight years in prison, reformed gang leader S. Lance Ingram re-enters society and struggles to adapt to a changed Harlem. Living under the tough supervision of a parole officer in a halfway house, he is unable to find a job that will let him use the technological skills he gained in prison.

Lance is forced to take a job delivering for a food pantry where he befriends Ms. Maddy (Loretta Devine), a strong and spirited grandmother, and assumes responsibility for her 15-year-old grandson Ty, a promising student who is pulled into a dangerous street gang. When gang members decide to punish Ty for disobeying the "law of the streets," Lance risks sacrificing his "second chance" at freedom so that Ty can have a "first chance" at a better life.