A 62-year-old man has moved back to Oakland. After a confrontation with his neighbors about his aggressive dog, he reflects on his arrival to the neighborhood years ago, when his mother left him behind.

Three boys navigate their youth in Chicago, but are forced to grow up quickly when they start cooking drugs for money.

In a near-future dystopian society, a Black, teenage girl determined to stay true to herself is valedictorian of her high school class; she knows success means she will be given over to an artificial intelligence-human hybrid surrounding her walled society of the last remaining humans.