America Brown was born and raised in a West Texas town where football is treated more like a religion than a game. Raised by a single mother‚ America’s primary male role model has been his older brother Daniel‚ who has drilled it into Ricky’s head that it’s his destiny to be a football star. But America has come to hate football‚ and especially loathes Bo‚ the manipulative coach of his high-school team. Desperate to get away from it all‚ America runs away to New York City‚ where he seeks refuge with John Cross‚ a one-time football legend from West Texas who gave up the game to become a Catholic priest. As America looks to find a new life‚ he finds in Cross a man who is still haunted by his past and smitten with a woman in his congregation‚ Rosie. America‚ meanwhile‚ develops an infatuation of his own with Vera‚ a pretty but streetwise girl who waits tables at a neighborhood diner.