Jesse Owens (Stephan James) was the first in his family to go to college. There, he is soon noticed by athletic coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) and Jesse becomes a track star. But the journey to his dream of becoming the greatest athlete in history leads him to a great moral dilemma: Should he participate in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, where Hitler is implementing his vision of Aryan supremacy?