The family lived in a typical middle class area, in a big house, but when Derek gets out of jail, the family have moved to a much smaller flat, probably paid by the government. The rest of the setting includes the neo nazi milieu, the school of Danny and the prison. .
The Main Characters.
Doris Vinyard -mother of Derek and Danny, opponent to nazism, liberal, ill, .
The father- fireman, killed by two black drug dealers who shot him down when he fought a fire. .
Davina Vinyard- sister of Danny and Derek, also an opponent to nazism, as her mother, she have en troubled relationship with her brothers. .
Danny Vinyard-the 2nd main character in the movie, the younger brother of Derek. Becoming a member of the neo nazi milieu. Still in secondary school. .
Derek Vinyard, Danny's older brother. A prominent neo-nazi, killed two black car thieves and got a prison term. .
The Plot:.
A young boy, skinhead and writing essays about Hitler's "Mein Kamf", is turning to the neo nazi milieu, and his teacher, Mr Smiley tries to get him away from that track., science the same happened to his older brother. He orders the boy, named Danny Vinyard, to write an essay to the next lesson this teacher will give him in a very special course; American History X" And then we get the background for this. .
The older brother, Derek, is a neo-nazi, and is a prominent person in the Californian Nazi circles. He kills two black car thieves who tried to steal his car, and goes to jail. His younger brother, Danny, is also becoming a neo-nazi . In the prison, the older brother come to know a black co-worker, and he gets trouble with the quasi neo-nazis inside the prison, and as a punishment he is raped in the shower. After this he is helped by his brother `s teacher who wants his brother to get out of the neo nazi milieu. He gets out of prison and out of the nazi milieu, but he fears that he will be killed. At the end, the brother I killed by a pupil of he's school.