Fourteen-year-old Junius Posey pushes weed for a small-time neighborhood dealer—a low rung on the ladder of the gangster life surrounding him. But when his older brother, is shot dead, Junius grips a gun for the first time and starts climbing.

Flanked by his best friend, Junius sets his sights on the Rindge Towers, a low-income high-rise looming over the cold streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts—and lorded over by rival drug kingpins. But when one of the Towers’ men draws down on him, Junius is forced to rack up his first kill—and face the hell that breaks loose.

Now, with a vicious, crack-addicted enforcer bent on paying Junius back in lead, even his mother thinks his best play is to skip town and lie low…maybe forever.