The Fortress of Solitude

Dylan grows up in a black neighborhood in Brooklyn, the only white boy around. His hippie parents are oblivious, but his troubles in an all-black milieu are eased by his best friend, Mingus Rude, the son of a soul singer. As the boys grow up, Dylan moves away from his roots and goes off to college in Berkeley, while Mingus falls deep into crack and drug-dealing and ends up in jail. Throughout, the presence of a magic ring that allows its wearer to fly is a recurring motif in this close look at the insidious presence of racism in American life.