It's the summer of 1971 and racial integration has arrived at Alexandria, Virginia's T.C. Williams High School. The first institution affected by the ruling is the Titans football team, with Herman Boone (DENZEL WASHINGTON), a black coach, being brought in to replace Bill Yoast (WILL PATTON), the longstanding, successful and well-respected white coach.
Tempers obviously flare, with Yoast and his nine-year-old, football fanatic daughter, Sheryl (HAYDEN PANETTIERE) sharing the outrage of his players and the community. Boone, who's just moved to the area with his wife, Carol (NICOLE PARKER) and daughter, Nicky (KRYSTEN LEIGH JONES), isn't crazy about the idea either, but when he experiences the outpouring of support from the local black community, he knows he can do the job.
Although hurt by his sudden demotion, Yoast decides to stay on as Boone's assistant, mainly to keep his white players from quitting the team and thus jeopardizing their chances of continuing in the sport. As such, the two coaches call a reluctant truce and take their players off to summer training camp.
There, Boone hopes to integrate the white players, including captain Gerry Bertier (RYAN HURST) and fellow veteran Ray Budds (BURGESS JENKINS) along with transfer students Lewis Lastik (ETHAN SUPLEE) and backup quarterback Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass (KIP PARDUE) with the new black players including quarterback Julius "Big Ju" Campbell (WOOD HARRIS), running back Petey Jones (DONALD FAISON), as well as Jerry "The Rev" Harris (CRAIG KIRKWOOD) and Darryl "Blue" Stanton (EARL POITIER), into one cohesive team where race has no bearing.
Employing a Marine-like training regimen and trying to keep Yoast's leadership tendencies in check as his new defensive coordinator, Boone makes his various players spend time together, getting to know each other as people and teammates. Successfully completing that, the now unified team returns from camp for the first day of school, only to find that the rest of the student body clearly isn't as comfortable being integrated as they are.
Nonetheless, and despite facing varied reactions from those around them - such as Gerry's girlfriend, Emma Hoyt (KATE BOSWORTH), who has a hard time dealing with his acceptance and defense of his new black teammates as his friends - Boone, co-captains Bertier and Campbell, and their team set out to prove that as a cohesive and disciplined unit, they can overcome any diversity thrown their way as they set out for another victorious football season.