1977. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Forty-year old Frank Reeve befriends fifteen-year old Mike Montages, after Frank defends Mike's father, a used-car salesman, from three gangsters. Mike, and his best friend, Richard, are terrorized on a daily basis by a vicious bully named Joe Mantz. Before his incarceration, Frank was a heavy-weight contender. Mike asks Frank to teach him boxing. Under normal circumstances, Frank would be glad to do so, but because of his parole-condition, he runs the risk of going back to the last place he wants to be for the rest of his life.

Since the first films played in nickelodeons, controversial movies have been cut or banned across the United States. Far from Hollywood, regional productions such as Oscar Micheaux's provocative race films and Nell Shipman's wildlife adventures were censored by men like Major M.L.C. Funkhouser, the terror of Chicago's cinemas, and Myrtelle Snell, the Alabama administrator who made the slogan "Banned in Birmingham" famous. Censorship continues today, with Utah's case against Deadpool (2016) pending in federal court and Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (2013) versus the Texas Film Commission. This authoritative state-by-state account covers the history of film censorship and the battle for free speech in America.