30-year-old Ricky has been in prison half his life. Newly released, and having been locked up from age 15, he navigates post-incarceration back at home in East Hartford, Connecticut. Rashad Frett’s stunning and compassionate debut feature won the best directing award at the Sundance Film Festival and showcases a dynamic performance from Stephan James as Ricky.

Sentenced when he was just a teenager, Ricky has not experienced any of the rites of passage that most young men experience in freedom. He’s a handsome young man, trained as a barber, who knows nothing about modern technology, dating, and navigating the world in general. His religious mother exerts pressure on him, his parole officer pushes him, his own anger and self-regard punish him daily, and he just hopes he can find a place in this world.