17 year old Tupac Shakur navigates school, poverty and family, while dreaming of using poetry and music to spread the message of his mother, noted Black Panther activist Afeni Shakur. Haunted by her past, Afeni fears how it will affect Tupac's future.

Tupac’s legal troubles escalate, with multiple different arrests, culminating in his being charged with sexual assault in New York. Afeni is the voice of the New York Panther 21, defending herself at trial; the two trials have different results.

Tupac spends nearly a year at the Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora. He leaves hardened by the experience and immediately joins Death Row Records.

After attending a Tyson fight in Las Vegas, Tupac is shot and killed. Afeni is paralyzed with grief after the death of her son. She manages to secure Tupac's legacy.

Tupac bursts onto the scene in both music and the movies, but trying to be a mainstream star and militant activist comes at a cost. Afeni’s activism lands her and her Panther comrades in a political show trial that could end with all of them in prison.