An alternate cover edition can be found here.

A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of our literature.

特洛伊（丹泽尔·华盛顿 饰）曾是一名棒球希望新星，却因为一次意外的抢劫杀人案而入狱。当时美国职业棒球大联盟种族隔离政策还未完全废除，黑人登场机会很少，加上特洛伊出狱后的年龄，因此他的棒球生涯就此结束，只好去当了一名匹兹堡的环卫工人。而他最近的愿望，是答应妻子修好后院的围栏……

影片以作家詹姆斯·鲍德温未完成的小说《记住这个房子》为切入点，片中还涉及马丁·路德·金、马尔克姆·X、梅加·埃弗斯的故事。