Sylvia witnesses her eight-year-old sister DJ get attacked and bitten by the Crandalls' dog.

The Patterson family debates school integration at breakfast, and Gary demands his name be put on the list.

Gary is beaten by white boys and left bloody on the family porch after visiting the NAACP office.

Miss Washington pulls Sylvia aside and tells her the school wants her to represent them at Central High.

Miss Washington visits the Patterson home to inform the family that Sylvia has been chosen for the integration list.

Sylvia's father delivers a church sermon publicly announcing his support for the school integration effort.

A school board committee interrogates and demeans Sylvia during her official interview for the integration list.

White boys harass and assault Sylvia and DJ at the library; a white teenager named Jim chases the attackers away.

Johnny Crandall threatens Sylvia from his car while she walks alone toward Zucker's grocery store.

Explosions tear through Zucker's grocery store while Sylvia and Rachel are inside; Sylvia spots Reggie's blue sneakers fleeing the scene.

Reggie appears at the Patterson house and confesses he accidentally firebombed the grocery store while targeting a racist barbershop.

Mr. Patterson convinces Reggie to confess to police; the Zuckers decline to press charges; Reggie drops out of school to repay the damages.

Sylvia tells her family she is removing her name from the Central High integration list, and they support her decision.

Sylvia and Aunt Bessie watch a student from the Little Rock Nine walk alone through a screaming mob and be blocked by armed soldiers.

All nine Black students, escorted by federal soldiers, successfully walk through the front doors of Central High School.

Sylvia Patterson's story begins when her Little Rock community starts preparing to integrate Central High School in 1957. Her teacher selects her for the integration list, setting off a chain of escalating racist violence against her and her family. After surviving a humiliating school board interview and an assault at the public library, Sylvia nearly dies when the Zucker family's grocery store is firebombed while she is inside. The shocking truth about who caused the explosion forces Sylvia to reassess her entire path forward. She ultimately chooses to remove her name from the integration list, opting to preserve her pride in the Black community before heading to college. As a witness rather than a participant, she watches the Little Rock Nine make history by finally entering Central High School under federal military escort.

The headline moments that drive Sylvia's story from beginning to end.

Sylvia writes in her diary that white people like the Crandalls hate Black families regardless of how hard they pray.

Rachel visits the Patterson house and she and Sylvia compare magazines and discuss their parents' rules about interracial marriage.

During class, Reggie tells Miss Washington he would rather stay at his own school than integrate Central High.

Lou Ann flags down Reggie at lunch, and he asks Sylvia to meet him at the upcoming basketball game.

Sylvia visits Zucker's grocery store on an errand and notices the Holocaust tattoo on Mr. Zucker's forearm.

Someone paints swastikas on the front door of the Zucker family's grocery store, and Mr. Zucker cries.

Reggie openly flirts with Candy during class, and Sylvia slips out to cry alone in the school bathroom.

Sylvia picks a fight with her family at dinner over biscuits; Gary defends her and DJ urges her to live her own life.

Mrs. Patterson brings home a Time magazine featuring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the cover for the first time.

Miss Washington announces to the entire class that Sylvia is among the 42 remaining finalists on the integration list.

DJ overhears Gary talking about explosives on the phone, and the girls decide not to tell their parents.

At junior high graduation, Sylvia wins multiple academic awards while Reggie signs her autograph book pledging a future together.

Everyone escapes the burning store alive, but police dismiss Sylvia's eyewitness testimony about seeing Crandall's tapped shoes at the scene.

Sylvia and Gary sneak off to ride with the Black press corps and watch the Nine briefly enter Central High.

Sylvia calls Rachel after the integration and they celebrate the racially mixed work crew rebuilding the destroyed store together.

While Sylvia wrestles with the biggest decision of her life, her daily world is filled with relationships, small revelations, and community moments that define who she is. Her friendship with Rachel, her complicated feelings for Reggie, and the guidance of friends like Lou Ann all color the months leading up to integration. Racist acts — swastikas on the Zucker store and Gary's secretive phone calls about explosives — signal mounting danger beneath the surface of ordinary days. Sylvia earns academic honors at her junior high graduation and sees Martin Luther King Jr. on a national magazine cover for the first time, both milestones that reflect the era's shifting tides. After the fire, Sylvia and Gary secretly join the Black press corps to witness the Nine's historic attempt to enter Central High. The story closes with Sylvia and Rachel celebrating the integrated community effort to rebuild what hatred had destroyed.

The relationships, daily life, and community moments that shape Sylvia's world.

Gary casually mentions the Crandalls' dog died overnight, and Sylvia quietly wonders whether Gary killed it himself.

Gary argues that segregated schools exist only to exclude Black students, while his father defends them as places of cultural pride.

Sylvia asks Miss Washington to place Gary on the integration list instead; Miss Washington insists Sylvia is the one they want.

Gary discovers he is not on the integration list and that Sylvia is, and he erupts with outrage.

After church, Reggie officially calls Sylvia his girlfriend but immediately urges her to drop the integration and stay at Horace Mann.

Rachel tells Sylvia that whatever she decides, she will always have a friend waiting for her at Central High.

Lou Ann warns Sylvia that attending Central means giving up Reggie, cheerleading, and any chance at a normal high school life.

Reggie confronts Sylvia at church and demands she choose between being his girlfriend and integrating Central High.

Mr. Patterson privately tells Sylvia that his own father was lynched and that he fears Gary could suffer the same fate.

DJ shocks Sylvia by calling her beautiful, then tells her it is her own life and she should live it for herself.

Sylvia learns she is one of just 17 finalists for the integration list, reigniting a fierce argument between Gary and their father.

Sylvia's mother surprises her by revealing she once snuck out to a dancehall without permission and met Sylvia's father there.

The governor announces on Labor Day that the National Guard will block Black students from entering Central High School.

Sylvia watches Rachel appear on television and declare she does not want to see more hatred in Little Rock.

President Eisenhower orders federal troops into Little Rock, and Sylvia watches military helicopters arrive over her city.

Beneath the headline events of 1957, a series of quieter revelations and confrontations shape Sylvia's ultimate choice. The mystery of who killed the Crandalls' dog, the clash between Gary and his father over what integration truly means, and the realization that Sylvia — not Gary — is the school's chosen representative establish the story's central tensions early on. Reggie pushes Sylvia to choose him over history, while friends and family pull her in opposite directions about what she owes herself and her community. A stunning private confession from her father about his own father's lynching reveals how deeply the roots of racial terror run. As integration day approaches, the governor's and president's opposing decisions force the entire community to take sides. Sylvia finds her answer not in a grand gesture but in a quiet conversation with her mother and a clear-eyed decision to build her strength inside the community that built her.