Teachers at an all-black school fight to save a problem child.

On her first day at a small black elementary school in the South, Jane Richards, a fourth grade schoolteacher, takes a particular interest in C. T. Young, a polite but bored child, who has consistently taken two years to get through each grade. After class, Jane asks C. T. about his family and learns that he has eight brothers and sisters. Although C. T. also claims that his father has a big job at the mill, Jane sees in her records that Mr. Young is a part-time laborer. Later, Jane realizes that C. T. does not have money for lunch and arranges for him to get a free one through the school. After school, C. T. walks hand-in-hand with his friend, Tanya Hamilton, and warns his dog not to catch any birds, noting that they, too, have a right to live. Tanya convinces C. T. to attend Sunday school, which Jane also teaches, and after Jane states that God created everyone in His image, C. T. asks what color God is. Jane skirts the question by declaring that all men are brothers, but when C. T. wonders why they do not act like brothers, she explains that God is always willing to help mankind when asked. During a multiplication lesson, Jane sees that C. T. is drawing instead of listening, but nonetheless compliments him on his picture. Although Jane gives C. T. his first passing grade, a "C" for "Desire to Learn," he takes the report card without opening it. Outside, the children taunt C. T. and Tanya, and a fight ensues. Jane separates the children, and after she rebukes C. T. for fighting on the same day he received his first good mark, he looks at the report card with pride. At Christmas, C. T. gives his adoring mother a jar of honey he collected from the beehive he tends, and she is grateful, knowing that he keeps the bees to raise money. After New Year's, C. T. further impresses Jane when, unlike the other children who brag about their Christmas gifts, he describes the good acts he did for his family and others. Soon after, during dress rehearsal for a performance of The Sleeping Beauty , Tanya becomes ill and is diagnosed with viral pneumonia. Jane comforts C. T., who cries that if there is a God, he will not let Tanya die. Tanya does die and C. T. stays away from school for a time. When he finally returns to the playground, he becomes embroiled in a confrontation with a group of boys and brawls with one of them until the principal, Mr. Williams, intervenes. As punishment Jane orders C. T. to sit in the front of the classroom and instructs the other children not to speak to him until he says he is sorry, but he vows never to apologize. In the third quarter, C. T.'s performance deteriorates drastically. When he helps another boy work out multiplication problems on the blackboard, however, Jane changes his "F" to an "A." Later, classmate Booker T. Jones asks C. T. to go to the circus with him, but C. T. still refuses to tell Jane that he is sorry and insists that he does not care about the circus, prompting Jane to conclude that she has failed C. T. During a rest period, however, C. T. again proves himself after a swarm of bees flies into the classroom window and causes the other children to panic. C. T. puts the queen bee into a jar and, while covered with the other bees, takes her to a hollow tree in the woods. He then presents Jane with a butterfly cocoon that he had been saving for Tanya. As the class watches, the butterfly emerges from its cocoon, inspiring Jane to comment that everyone they know and love will be born again. Later, while alone with Jane, C. T. tells her that he loves her, then runs off with his dog as she watches from her window.