Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial. At question is the issue of whether or not he was an accomplice to a robbery by going into a corner store to see if "the coast was clear"? If he did, then he is an accessory to a murder. The story unfolds as a movie script, and we see Steve in jail and get the sense of who he is and what his life has been like. Then we have the chance to give a verdict on the crime he may have committed. This book was the recipient of the 2000 Coretta Scott King Honor Book award, the 2000 Michael L. Printz award for young adult literature, and was the 1999 National Book Award Finalist winner.