Diquan Mitchell, a 19-year-old ex-con trying to turn his life around, returns to his Brooklyn public housing project and witnesses a heated argument between two youths, Chucky and Pharoah, that quickly erupts into a deadly stairwell shooting.
He lives there with his mother Diquan's Mother, his grandmother, and two sisters, and his girlfriend, Latisha Jordan, who is eight months pregnant.
Latisha, also a convicted felon, is caught selling crack cocaine to an undercover New York City police officer. After a hearing, bail is set at $2,500 for Latisha, and with funds unavailable, Mitchell agrees to join a complicated undercover operation that blends street gun sales with passing information to the police, with the promise that the case against Latisha could be dismissed if they successfully take down a gun salesman named Ben.
Mitchell teams up with his long-time friend, Bamboo, to help out with the case while quietly pocketing cash from gun sales on the side. Shortly after bailing Latisha out, Mitchell and Bamboo are steered by Ann to her brother in Georgia to buy guns for their own profits. The cops stage a stakeout at the location Ben uses to move firearms, and he is arrested earlier for possession of 150 firearms at his suburban home.
The authorities later inform Mitchell and Bamboo that they cannot charge Ben due to a lack of evidence that he is selling weapons to youths, so they need more proof. Ben returns to the neighborhood to locate Bamboo and ends up learning Bamboo’s beeper number from youths seeking firearms.
Mitchell and Bamboo then visit a local convenience store, where Bamboo becomes involved in a heated exchange with a cashier over the size of a sandwich, and an unintended tragedy follows when Bamboo accidentally shoots a little girl who stands behind him. After questioning by the police, the two are released.
Back in the neighborhood, Lay-Lay tells him that people have been saying he has been working with the cops, a rumor that strains his credibility. When Bamboo later confronts Mitchell about the rumor, a tense fight and shootout ensue, and Bamboo escapes, disappearing from sight.
The film closes with Mitchell choosing to take responsibility for the youth’s death, admitting he used the gun during the earlier shootout. In exchange for his guilty plea, the case against Latisha is dismissed, and Mitchell is sentenced to prison.
