When the urban neighborhood where William Lunch Money Barnes lives becomes too rough, his mother moves his family in the middle of the school year to an all-white suburb 50 miles away. The good-natured Barnes runs into one problem: everyone, including the middle school's basketball coach, assumes that since he is African American and from the inner city, he must be great at basketball and can save the school team's season. Unfortunately, Barnes is not an athlete, and contrary to assumptions about black kids, he's terrible at basketball! Trouble arises when the school discovers that Lunch Money Can't Shoot!