Castle's drunk father shoots at Castle and his mother with a pistol.

Castle and his mother escape and hide overnight in Mr. Charles's store storage room.

Castle stops to watch the Defenders track team practice at the park after school.

Castle challenges top sprinter Lu to a race and holds his own against him.

Coach formally invites Castle to join the Defenders track team.

Castle hits Brandon with his lunch tray and punches him, earning a one-day suspension.

Coach picks Castle up from school and takes him to the track to train alone.

Castle cuts the tops off his high-top sneakers using his mother's medical scissors.

Castle steals an expensive pair of silver bullet running shoes from a sporting goods store.

Coach takes the new runners to a Chinese restaurant for the team's yearly dinner tradition.

Teammates share painful secrets at dinner, and Castle reveals his father shot at him.

Coach hands Castle a photo of him shoplifting instead of giving him his team uniform.

Coach reveals he also grew up in Glass Manor and was abused by his own father.

Coach takes Castle to the sporting goods store to apologize, then buys the shoes for him.

The starting gun fires as Castle stands on the starting line of his very first race.

Castle Cranshaw is a troubled teenager in Glass Manor whose life is defined by the night his drunken father shot at him and his mother, landing in prison shortly after. After stumbling across a track team practice, Castle impulsively races their fastest sprinter and earns an invitation to join the Defenders, giving him purpose for the first time. Though he picks fights and steals expensive running shoes to fit in, he also finds real connection at a team dinner where everyone reveals painful secrets. When Coach discovers the theft, he responds with both consequences and compassion, sharing his own story of growing up in Glass Manor with an abusive father. After making things right at the sporting goods store, Castle arrives at his first race transformed — more connected, more honest, and finally ready to run toward the person he wants to become.

Castle's journey from trauma to the starting line.

Castle watches strangers on stair-steppers through a gym window from a bus stop.

Castle reflects that running is a skill he learned the night his father chased him.

Coach gives Castle and his mother a ride home in his taxi after the tryout.

Castle's mother agrees to let him join the team under strict one-strike conditions.

Coach tells Castle that no one can run away from themselves after picking him up from school.

Castle meets the full team, including assistant Coach Whit and veteran sprinter Mikey.

Patty encourages Castle after his fall and tells him that Lu has albinism and is constantly mocked.

Castle works for Mr. Charles moving inventory to the stockroom after leaving school early.

The team goes on a long run while Coach drives slowly behind them, honking at slow runners.

Castle tells other students to leave Brandon alone when they tease him.

Shamika apologizes to Castle for laughing at his cut-up shoes in class.

The team picks up Sunny at his house in a wealthy neighborhood before going to dinner.

Coach takes everyone's utensils at the restaurant and refuses to return them until secrets are shared.

Lu shares his secret: he wishes he had a brother so he could see himself without albinism.

Sunny reveals his mother died giving birth to him and his father made him run to honor her.

Before Castle joins the Defenders, his world is defined by poverty, isolation, and an anger he can barely control. The practical details of how he becomes part of the team — Coach's taxi rides, his mother's strict conditions, and the grueling early practices — set the stage for a slow but real transformation. As Castle spends more time with his teammates, he starts to see them as individuals carrying their own hidden pain rather than rivals to resent. The team dinner pulls those secrets into the open, revealing that Sunny lost his mother at birth and Lu has never felt normal because of his albinism. By the time the runners gather for their first meet, the bonds built through shared hardship and honest conversation have given Castle something he never had before: a community that genuinely knows him.

The team, the secrets, and the small moments that shaped Castle.

Castle introduces himself as Ghost — a nickname he invented the night his father attacked the family.

Castle reluctantly agrees to stay for practice despite insisting he does not run for teams.

Castle tells Coach that besides his father, the only person he is truly scared of is himself.

Castle trips on a loose shoelace and falls hard during his final sprint in front of the team.

Shamika points out Castle's homemade cut-up shoes and the whole class bursts out laughing.

Castle panics after getting stuck in Mr. Charles's storage room and sprints out of the store.

Castle lies to Coach after practice, claiming his mother bought him the new silver bullet shoes.

Patty reveals at the team dinner that her biological mother lost both legs to diabetes and gave her up.

Castle begs Coach not to tell his mother about the stolen shoes and asks why Coach even cares about him.

Coach pulls down his collar to show Castle a tattoo of his gold medal, revealing his father sold the real one for drug money.

Coach tells Castle he wants to show him that he can run toward who he wants to be.

Castle finds a duffel bag in the taxi containing a photo of a young Coach with his father.

Castle's aunt Sophie and cousin King arrive at his apartment on the morning of the race.

Mr. Charles sees Castle in his team uniform and hands him a bag of sunflower seeds for good luck.

Castle spots Brandon at the starting line wearing a rival team's uniform, both surprised the other runs.

Castle's transformation hinges on a series of moments where he is forced to confront himself rather than run away. From inventing the nickname Ghost on the worst night of his life to admitting to Coach that he fears his own anger as much as his father, Castle slowly peels back the protective façade he has built around his trauma. His impulsive choices — cutting his shoes, stealing a replacement pair, and lying about it — each set off consequences that demand honesty and accountability. The real breakthrough comes when Coach shares his own parallel story and shows Castle that being shaped by a painful past does not mean being imprisoned by it. By the time Castle's family gathers at the starting line and he spots his old bully in the rival lanes, he is no longer running from fear — he is finally running toward something.