John Travolta is social worker Scott Barnes, a person adamant about keeping the kids of some innercity area of California from giving into the rampant drug circles that work the street. He's been working the job for so long, he knows the dealers by name, and they know him.
The job gets personal when a close friend of his, a 13 year old boy named Tommy (Joey Lawrence), starts dealing. Unfortunately, Tommy has already become much more involved in the "Youth Incentive Program," which is the name for the dangerous clan of cocaine dealers that run the area. Travolta figures that he owes it to Tommy to help him, seeing this as an opportunity to redeem himself after having accidentally killed his only son in an accident where Scott was drunk.
Scott, the bold idealist that he is, goes undercover in one of the most dangerous drug rings (which reminds me a lot of Shredder's underground gang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie), hoping that he can rescue Tommy from their grips before it's too late.
Though the message is good, considering it is a powerful statement especially where kids are messing up their lives in being hooked on this stuff (they run like rats in the daylights to protect their stash) because they're sold on the false philosophy that they'll become filthy rich. Likewise, it illustrates the failures of the system as Scott tries so hard for other government agencies to help him out and put an end to the mess that he's witnessed for so long. But, it does in part seem a little too unrealistic, detracting from the importance of this message somewhat, as Scott, by himself, tries to disguise himself and his motives from a very ruthless leader (Benjamin Bratt) and his even more ruthless gang of drug dealing thugs. When the stakes are high, these guys will do whatever it takes to protect their product and their money. But is Scott able to do much more to protect Tommy?
