The year is 1999 and Marty Burlsworth is awaiting the funeral of his 22-year-old brother, Brandon. While others, including Marty's mother, Barbara, have accepted the loss and put their faith in God, Marty can not do that as he does not understand why God would take away his brother on the cusp of his stardom in the NFL. That doubt is shared by an imaginary stranger, The Farmer, who does what he can to reinforce Marty's anger.
As preparations for the funeral begin, the story rewinds to when Brandon was a 12-year-old with big dreams of playing for the University of Arkansas, and then his days playing high school football for Harrison High School football coach Tommy Tice. It is then that Marty and Brandon's long-estranged father, Leo, an alcoholic former musician, tries to get back into their and Barbara's lives. Marty does his best to protect his younger brother, due to being 17 years older than him and often mistaken for being his father.
When Brandon does not get a scholarship to become an Arkansas Razorback as an offensive guard, he is determined to join the team as a walk-on in 1994. Offensive line coach Mike Bender does not believe Brandon will make the team, due to Brandon not being large enough for a Division I-level college lineman. The sight of him is not lost on other players such as Nathan Ward, Anthony Lucas, nor Grant Garrett – the latter of whom is assigned as Brandon's roommate – and they make fun of him relentlessly.
But with hard work, Brandon sheds fat and puts on muscle, eventually proving himself on the field and turning around everyone's opinion of him. By his sophomore season, Arkansas head coach Danny Ford gives him a scholarship, and Brandon earns a starting position at right guard on the offensive line. Inspired by Brandon, the team achieves near greatness in his senior year of 1998, all by working and practicing hard. After the season is over, Brandon is named an All-American, and is then drafted in the 3rd round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. After attending a workout session in Indianapolis, his position coach tells him that he foresees a great career ahead for him.
Eleven days after being drafted, Brandon is killed when he is hit head-on by a tractor trailer. When his brother Marty sees how much he meant to the people of his hometown and how many have shown up for his funeral, he rebuffs The Farmer, deciding to celebrate Brandon's life and move on with his own.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a review rating of 69%, based on 16 reviews, with an audience rating of 86%.[5] Some critics categorized the film as primarily a faith-based movie rather than a sports movie, with Variety describing it as follows: "An insistent, clunky sermon about triumph through faith, David Hunt's film is so determined to turn its subject into a Christ-like saint that it loses any sense of him as an actual flesh-and-blood man, the result being a third-string sports saga only apt to play to its devout target audience."[4]
