Juan Garcia is a boy on the threshold of manhood living in a gang-controlled neighborhood. His role models could not be further apart: his older sister Angie, a single mom, struggling to gain a foothold in the white corporate world and his uncle Manny, an ex-gang member, who has fallen into an acting career playing gang bangers since his release from prison. With the future on his doorstep, Juan, like most boys, can only think of girls and is unaware of the judicial system's hard line stance against gang affiliation.

Fast-talking New Yorker and brand new doctor Zoe Hart has it all figured out - after graduating top of her class from medical school, she'll follow in her father's footsteps and become a cardio-thoracic surgeon. But when her dreams fall apart, Zoe decides to accept an offer from a stranger, Dr. Harley Wilkes, to work with him at his small practice in Bluebell, Alabama. Zoe arrives in this small Gulf Coast town only to find that Harley has passed away and left his half of the medical practice to her in his will.

Set on a university campus, the story line unfolds over a several month period in which the "Greeks" (fraternities and sororities) prepare for the culminating event: the step show competition. Against this backdrop there are numerous subplots involving the meeting and maturation of a love relationship, a kidnapping, an avenging abused co-ed, fraternity initiation rites, step scenes, and the antics of students and faculty alike.