Plot

Tyler receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with an up and coming dancer, Nora.

In Baltimore, the troublemaker and street dancer Tyler Gage lives with his foster parents in a lower class neighborhood. His best friends are Mac Carter and his little brother Skinny Carter and they used to hang around together, going to parties and stealing cars. After being expelled from a party, the trio breaks in the Maryland School of Arts and commits vandalism, destroying the stage. Tyler is arrested and sentenced to 200 hours of community service in the school and Director Gordon assigns him to help the janitor cleaning the place. One afternoon, the ballet dancer Nora Clark sees Tyler dancing in the parking area and when her partner Andrew has a strain and Tyler offers to help her in the choreography, she accepts the offer; they rehearsal and become close to each other while Tyler becomes friend of the students Miles Darby and Lucy Avila. When Andrew returns, Tyler that is known for quitting everything he starts gives up dancing and leaves Nora alone. After an incident, Tyler has to decide to follow his dream or return to his life of rebel loser.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Late teen Tyler Gage is a directionless young man, despite the care provided by his loving foster family. With his best friend Marcus "Mac" Carter and Mac's younger brother "Skinny" Carter, Tyler spends his time stealing cars, playing pick-up games of basketball, and attending house parties where hip-hop is king. After he is caught and convicted of vandalism, Tyler is sentenced to community service at the scene of the crime: the Maryland School of the Arts. Tyler feels out of his element among most of the students at the school. But after her dance partner Andrew suffers an injury, classically trained dance student Nora Clark, who is preparing for her potentially career starting senior showcase, asks Tyler, who she spied doing an impromptu hip-hop dance out on the street, to replace Andrew in her showcase for rehearsal purposes only until Andrew recovers, despite Tyler not being a trained dancer. Getting the reluctant OK from the school's director, Miss Gordon, Tyler agrees. This partnership begins Tyler's association with the artistic side of the school and the students. Although their partnership has its many bumps, Nora helps Tyler see his life in a different way, while Tyler makes Nora examine how she sees her craft. Their professional partnership and burgeoning personal relationship is threatened by Nora's self-centered boyfriend, Brett Dolan, and Nora's commitment to Andrew as a dance partner. Tyler also feels like he's being pulled in two directions, especially as Mac sees him leaving his old friends behind him. An incident concerning Skinny makes both Tyler and Mac examine in which direction their lives should lead.—Huggo

Everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams, but some people only get one shot. Tyler Gage is a rebel from the wrong side of Baltimore¹s tracks ­ and the only thing that stands between him and an unfulfilled life are his dreams of one day making it out of there. Nora is a privileged ballet dancer attending Baltimore¹s ultra-elite Maryland School of the Arts -- and the only thing standing in the way of her obviously brilliant future is finding a great dance partner for her senior showcase. When trouble with the law lands Tyler with a community service gig at Maryland School of the Arts, he arrives as an angry outsider, until his skills as a gifted street dancer draw Nora¹s attention. Now, as sparks fly between them, both on and off stage, Tyler realizes he has just one performance to prove that he can step up to a life far larger than he ever imagined.—Anonymous

Following a party, brothers Mac (Damaine Radcliff) and Skinny Carter (De'Shawn Washington), with their friend Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum), break into the Maryland School of Arts and trash the school's theatre, damaging many of the props. When a security guard appears, Tyler helps the two escape, accepting full blame for the vandalism, himself. He is sentenced to 200 hours of community service, which is to be served at the school. While working, he peers in on a dance class and meets Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan), a student preparing for her "senior showcase," an audition performance which could determine whether or not she is offered a job within any one of the professional dance companies to attend the performance. When Mac and Skinny pay Tyler a visit on the school's lot, Nora curiously watches from a window as Tyler dances with his friends, mockingly incorporating a mashup of break-dance and the ballet moves he's recently observed.

When Nora's dance partner, Andrew (Tim Lacatena), sprains an ankle, Nora finds herself unexpectedly without a partner for her routine. Auditioning some sophomore students to replace him, she decides that none meet her expectations. Tyler offers to help, but Nora, initially, refuses. But after demonstrating that he can handle the demand (impressively proving able to effortlessly catch and lift her in a supported leap) Nora reconsiders and convinces Director Gordon (Rachel Griffiths) to allow Tyler to rehearse with her. During their initial practice session, Tyler is antagonistic toward Nora as well as her boyfriend, Brett (Josh Henderson), both of whom respond with haughty attitudes. As they continue to rehearse, Nora and Tyler grow closer, each teaching the other about their respective styles of dance. Tyler also befriends a musician at the school named Miles (Mario), who has a crush on Nora's friend, Lucy (Drew Sidora).

As Nora's bond with Tyler grows, one day, she takes him to a special spot on the waterfront, near a company for which her late father used to work, revealing that this is where she first envisioned her routine. She confesses to Tyler that she'd always imagined it as an ensemble dance, rather than a duet. Tyler becomes inspired to help her dream come true and begins recruiting younger dancers from the school to perform in her number. Brett signs a recording deal with a company, but in doing so, betrays his friend, Miles, to get the opportunity. Disgusted by his betrayal, Nora breaks up with Brett. Meanwhile, Tyler continues to attempt a balance between his new goals, his new friends, and nurturing a troubled relationship with his old ones.

Tyler asks Director Gordon if she will let him attend the school, and she advises that he must prove to her that he deserves a chance. Upon hearing this from Tyler, Nora suggests that the showcase could also be used as his entrance audition. After dancing together at a club where Lucy and Miles perform, Nora and Tyler finally move forward with a romantic relationship.

Rehearsals continue as normal, until Andrew, Nora's former dance partner, returns seemingly healed from his injury. Tyler feels that he is no longer needed in the routine, and angrily accuses Nora of treating him the same way her ex-boyfriend treated Miles. He leaves the group and thus returns to janitorial work, his initial community service at the school. However, in the course of the training, Nora has been incorporating many of Tyler's suggestions for the routine and finds that the new choreography is now much too difficult for the original partner to perform. Andrew resigns himself from the routine, and Nora is, once again, left without a partner. Crushed, she questions her efforts and considers abandoning her dance career but receives an emotional confession and strong encouragement from her mother, who once opposed her future in dance. Nora transforms the choreography into a solo piece.

Later, Tyler's friend, Skinny, is fatally shot after stealing a car, making Mac and Tyler realize that they need to make better choices in their lives. Tyler surprises Nora by showing up, last minute, at the evening of the showcase. He tries to persuade Nora to let him perform with her, and to forgive him for overreacting. She initially declines, but suddenly changes her mind as Tyler wishes her good luck and walks away. When the curtain opens, Tyler, Nora, and the ensemble of students perform their original choreography against Miles' latest musical score. After the performance, Director Gordon is beaming, and the crowd is blown away.

Backstage, when a proud Director Gordon tells a fellow Director from a Professional Dance company hoping to sign Nora that Tyler is a "transfer student," Nora is overwhelmed and embraces Tyler. She repeats advice given to him at their first rehearsal together, and the two share a kiss.