Castle, nickname Ghost, stays with his mom in Glass Manor, a poor neighborhood. His dad is in jail for trying to kill Ghost and his mom. He heard about a track team and wanted to see. There, Coach Brody was amazed with his talent and convinced him to join the team. But, Ghost was only allowed on the team if he stayed out of trouble. Which, he struggled with. Next day at school he got an altercation for beating up a kid named Brandon.
Ghost is always made fun of for his appearances. One day, he decided to skip school, steal a pair of shoes, what he called the “silver bullets” from a sports store, and then lie to everyone about it. Even though, he knew the potential consequences of this crime may be!
On uniform day, everybody received their uniforms except Ghost. His concerns forced him to ask coach if he knew anything. Coach gave him a piece of paper with Ghost’s picture on it and underneath it said SHOPLIFTER. Then, Coach tells Ghost his story. He says, running helped me come through, I imagined it would help you too. This is when the is theme developed. Race day finally arrives and Ghost wants make his mom and coach proud by pursuing his talent.