The X Generation

Sweetness O'Hara (Zoe Kravitz) is the seventeen-year-old daughter of a troubled and ethnically diverse couple; her father (Jason Clarke), who is white, is caring but suffers from violent mood swings, while her African-American mother (Yolonda Ross) struggles with severe emotional issues that lead her to abandon the household. While Sweetness is pretty and bright, she attends a school dominated by youth gangs, and she's often the target of a band of streetwise girls led by Latonya (Gabourey Sidibe) who resent her for her light skin. While her school counselor (Tim Blake Nelson) believes she can make something of herself, Sweetness is more interested in immediate survival than her long-term future, and she allies herself with Roland (Tariq Trotter), who lures her into the world of drug dealing.