Two weeks before leaving for college on a basketball scholarship, African American teenager Nathaniel “Cornbread” Hamilton, dribbles a basketball inside his apartment. Although the incessant basketball playing annoys his mother, Leona, Cornbread’s father, Sam, encourages it, passing the ball with his son across the dining room table. At a neighborhood basketball court, twelve-year-old Wilford Robinson and his friend Earl Carter cheer Cornbread on, arguing whether or not he is the best player in the country. Later, Wilford’s mother, Sarah, is visited by a welfare worker who suspects she has lied about a heart condition to receive welfare checks. Offended by the accusation, Sarah reluctantly agrees to go to a clinic for an examination. Later, Sarah returns from a date with her boyfriend and neighbor, Charlie, as Earl and Wilford watch television on her bed. Annoyed that Wilford has ruined a romantic liaison with Sarah, Charlie retreats to his apartment upstairs. At the recreation center where Cornbread works part-time, Wilford practices dribbling while Cornbread coaches him. Two thugs interrupt, claiming that they left pills in the locker room. Cornbread admits to flushing the drugs down the toilet, and the thugs beat him, but run away when Cornbread’s boss, Mr. Wilson, appears. Nearby, African American police officer Larry Atkins and his white partner, John Golich, arrive at a crime scene where a woman has been shot. While Atkins waits for an ambulance, Golich chases the gunman. Meanwhile, at Fred Jenkins’s convenience store, Cornbread buys sodas for himself, Wilford, and Earl. Wilford bets that Cornbread can make it home in twenty-five seconds and Earl bets against him. Grabbing another soda, Cornbread runs outside in the rain, attempting to make it home in record time. Nearby, Golich searches for the gunman, rounds a corner, and shoots Cornbread, mistaking him for the criminal. Wilford rushes into the street and cries hysterically, alerting the neighbors that the police killed Cornbread. A riot breaks out, and Cornbread’s neighbors beat Golich and Atkins. Soon after, Wilford tells Sarah that he never wants to play basketball again. To cheer him up, Sarah takes him to an amusement park. At the office of Ben Blackwell, an African American lawyer, Leona and Sam insist that their son was innocent despite police reports indicating otherwise. The Hamiltons do not want to sue the city for money, but only want to clear Cornbread’s name. Blackwell warns them the police will do everything they can to cover up any wrongdoings and the proceedings might be expensive. In tears, Leona produces the airplane ticket that Cornbread was supposed to use to go to college. She promises to get a refund for the ticket and use the money to pay Blackwell. The lawyer visits Atkins, who is convalescing at the hospital. Atkins, a childhood friend of Blackwell’s, stands by his claim that Cornbread was the shooter, but admits that Golich has expressed uncertainty. Police detectives Simmons and Kelly approach Fred Jenkins, the owner of the convenience store where Cornbread was last seen before his death. They threaten to plant drugs in Jenkins’s store if he acts as a witness in the Hamiltons’ civil lawsuit, so Jenkins promises to remain mum. Johnson, the police precinct captain, goes to Sarah’s apartment with Sergeant Danaher, who manhandles Wilford while warning him not to testify. When Sarah tries to protect her son, Danaher strikes her and promises she will lose her welfare checks if Wilford does not obey. That night, Wilford finds Blackwell and repeats what happened with Danaher. The boy refuses to lie, and says he believes he must run away so that Sarah can keep her welfare support. Blackwell takes Wilford to file an official witness statement at the police station, then brings the boy back home. Taking an interest in Sarah, Blackwell asks her out on a date and says Wilford is extraordinary. Sarah embraces her son and tells Wilford he must do whatever he thinks is right. At the inquest, Blackwell questions Golich, who admits that Cornbread had no weapon at the time he was shot. Jenkins testifies that he saw nothing, prompting Sam and Wilford to cry out from the audience, accusing him of lying. Earl takes the stand but remains silent while his father shouts that the boy knows nothing. The deputy coroner remarks that the witnesses seem particularly clueless, and Blackwell says that it is due to police intimidation. Finally, Wilford takes the stand and gives a detailed account of the hours surrounding Cornbread’s murder, including the bet he made that Cornbread could run home in twenty-five seconds. Atkins then surprises everyone by testifying that Wilford’s account is correct. Outraged, Danaher accosts Atkins and Golich outside the courtroom, but Golich punches him, sending him to the ground. That night, Wilford practices shooting basketballs once again and reconciles with Earl, who joins him on the court.