In this film, we meet three Afro-American boys, Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy. Tre is only ten when his mother decides that he is better off living with his father in Los Angeles. There, he meets Ricky and Doughboy, who is half-brothers. The boys become close friends.
Tre’s father is determined to make the boy into a proper man and has strict rules and expectations. Ricky and Doughboy lives challenging lives in the “hood”, but choses different ways to cope with it. Ricky wants to be a football player and has distinct goals, while Doughboy does not know what he wants and just hangs around.
We meet the boys again when they are seventeen, in 1991, and almost done with high school. Ricky is now a talented football player and is looking for a scholarship. Tre is a good boy with good grades. Doughboy, however, has gone the wrong way with the wrong friends. He has already been in and out of jail and often gets high. His mother is extremely disappointed in him.
The crimes and violence in the “hood” are difficult for the boys and they struggle to keep out of it. One day, however, Ricky and Tre find themselves in the middle of a gang. They split up to get away, but they do not succeed. Doughboy’s gang is on their way to rescue the boys, but it is already too late. Ricky is shot and killed.
In an effort to get revenge, Doughboy and his gang goes out to town looking for the gang who killed Ricky. They find the gang and kills the leader, as well as some others. Doughboy realizes and accepts the consequences of his actions and regrets his choices in life.
