The inspiring story of the unlikely friendship between a famous, reclusive novelist and an amazingly gifted teen who secretly yearns to be a writer.

Set in Manhattan and the South Bronx, William Forrester, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who has not been heard from for four decades, accidentally discovers that Jamal, a brash 16-year-old African American who plays basketball on the court below his window, keeps a secret journal that shows a real gift for writing. Forrester takes Jamal on as a protégé, and the friendship challenges and changes the two of them forever.