Two year-old Jobori Montgomery lives with his mother Latisha in an apartment complex in Port Arthur, TX, that is separated only by a playground and wire fence from vast areas of oil and chemical production facilities. Enveloped in air pollution from before birth on, Jobori suffers from a severe case of asthma, as do almost all the other children.

Latisha lives in a neighborhood where Hilton Kelley is organizing the parents. Hilton had grown up in Port Arthur but moved to California where he was enjoying a successful career as an actor and stunt man. One year, upon his return to Port Arthur for a visit, he was dismayed to see the havoc wreaked on the health of the people in the city by the dense warren of oil refineries and chemical plants that crowd around it. On the plane back to California he experienced a religious epiphany that convinced him to return to his home town and work to help the people there. He is still there in Port Arthur, running the community organization, trying to get industry there to clean up its act.

From the 1980s to now, the incidence of asthma in children has increased from 3.6% to 8.7%, more than doubled.