A coming of age story set in the sweltering southern summer of 1996, ‘96 follows Jamaal, an awkward, scrappy 11-year-old Black suburban kid whose innocence is lost in the course of three months as he has his first experiences with puberty, the unspoken code of the streets, southern racism, the worst hurricane on record and the stark realities facing young black males as he internalizes the murders of his two idols - rapper 2Pac Shakur and his closest family member.