"I HELD THE BALL GENTLY, AS IF IT WERE A SMALL BIRD AND I WAS FEELING FOR ITS TINY, BEATING HEART." Laz Weathers wants out of Jet City, the trailer park in Seattle where he lives. When he gets an offer to move in with a host family and pitch for a high-profile high school baseball team, he knows it is his last chance to impress major-league scouts and start down the road to becoming a league player. But playing for the rich kids across town would mean leaving behind not only his mother, but also his brother, Antonio, who is on the verge of being sucked into the black hole that is Jet City's drug world. How can Laz choose between being the star pitcher he has always dreamed of becoming and the team player his family needs?