Jacob's Ladder

Malachi "Jake" Jacobs returns to the town of Croy, Oklahoma, after spending the summer with his mother in New York City. He hopes to resume life as normal high school junior with Joanie and Randy, who helped him through his awkward sophomore year. But their friendship is strained. Joanie is preoccupied, writing editorials she hopes will guide the school through its first year of racial integration. And Randy starts pulling away from them both for reasons he won't explain. Jake is torn. His basketball skills make him suddenly popular with a whole new set of kids, but inwardly he longs for the anonymous freedom he glimpsed in New York. When an unexpected visitor comes to town, his careful balancing acts is upended and he starts taking dangerous chances.