Plot summary

In the South Bronx, New York City, hip-hop disc jockey Kenny "Double K" Kirkland (Guy Davis) heads out for the night with his friends, Ramon (Jon Chardiet) and Chollie (Leon W. Grant), leaving behind his younger brother, Lee Kirkland (Robert Taylor). On their way to the house party they are hosting at an abandoned building, Ramon, and another graffiti artist, Luis (Franc Reyes), photograph the subway cars they tagged the previous night.The hip-hop dance party draws a crowd, including the uninvited Lee and his dance crew, the Beat Street Breakers. However, Lee wins over the audience with his dance moves. Kenny spins records and introduces a trio from the neighborhood, called Us Girls. When Kenny, Ramon, and Chollie hear an odd noise, they discover a young man named Henri (Dean Elliott) playing percussion on the buildings pipes in the building basement. Henri is looking for a conga player named Tito, but the boys tell him Tito left years earlier when the landlord burned the building for insurance. Later that night, Lee's crew scuffles with a rival group, the Bronx Rockers, but Henri diffuses the situation.The next day, while Kenny and Lee's mother, Cora Kirkland (Mary Alice Smith), cooks breakfast, she begs Kenny not to stay out so late because she already lost one son who was killed to gang violence. Chollie arrives and informs Kenny that he has complimentary tickets to the Roxy, one of Manhattan's most popular nightclubs. Meanwhile, Ramon's father, Domingo (Shawn Elliott), wants his son to stop desecrating subway cars, get a job, and marry Carmen (Saundra Santiago), the young mother of his illegitimate baby.That night, at the Roxy, the Breakers and the Rockers square off on the dance floor in a break-dancing row. A pretty college student named Tracy Carlson (Rae Dawn Chong) catches Kenny's eye, but she is most impressed by Lee's dancing and she invites Lee to her school.The next day, Ramon is upset because a rival graffiti artist, a shadowy and taciturn street punk known only as Spit (Bill Anagnos), has painted over his artwork on a subway car. Kenny, Ramon, Chollie, and Henri join Lee as he visits Tracy at the City College of New York (CCNY), where she is contributing a dance composition to a television program. The group is disappointed upon discovering that Lee was not actually invited to perform in the show, and Kenny accuses Tracy and her teachers of being condescending toward his brother.Later, Ramon visits with Carmen and their baby. They are interrupted by Carmen's mother, who accuses Ramon of shirking his responsibility. Carmen begs Ramon to take her and the baby away. Meanwhile, Tracy visits the Kirkland's apartment to apologize. Kenny plays her some of his musical mixes and the two find common ground. Later, Kenny takes Tracy to the subway tunnels, where Ramon and Lee are spray-painting a wall. Ramon longingly watches a clean, white train pass, claiming it his dream canvas. Startled by a noise, the friends leave, as the hooded Spit tags a freshly painted wall.Kenny walks Tracy home and explains that his older brother, a gang member named Franklin, was killed a year ago. They kiss goodnight and Kenny arrives home at dawn.Later that day, Chollie informs Kenny that he has a tryout that night at a club, the Burning Spear, run by Kool Herc. With Tracy at his side, Kenny spins records to the delight of the crowd, and Kool Herc hires him for the following weekend. The next day, Ramon asks his father, Domingo, if Carmen can live with them. Referring to his son as a criminal, Domingo refuses, then orders his son to marry Carmen and provide for his child.Later, Chollie takes Kenny to the Roxy, where a talent scout is auditioning local performers... among them are Tina B., Andy B. Bad, and The Fantastic Duo. Chollie asks Kenny to wait outside and invites the scout to see Kenny deejay at club Burning Spear. Afterward, Kenny drops by CCNY to surprise Tracy and sees her in an intimate embrace with her professor, Robert (Duane Jones).Meanwhile, Henri fixes up the basement of the abandoned building and moves in.Ramon tells his friends that he plans to move Carmen and the baby into an empty apartment upstairs. Ramon gets a job at a hardware store and his friends help him make the apartment habitable. They surprise Carmen with a small housewarming party.On Saturday night at the Burning Spear, Kenny impresses the talent scout, who invites him to deejay at the Roxy on New Year's Eve.The next day, the Breakers and the Rockers engage in a dance-off in a subway station and Lee is arrested.Meanwhile, Tracy arranges for Kenny to use the college's computerized studio, while she works with Robert at a nearby piano. Kenny accidentally deletes his work, and rejects Robert and Tracy's attempts to help him. He tells Tracy they both may be too bust to continue seeing one another.Later, Cora picks Lee up at the police station and defends her son, telling the officer that there are worse things kids can do besides dancing.At the college, Tracy conducts the premiere of her dance composition. Waiting for a train with Ramon, Kenny worries that he made a mistake with Tracy, and wonders if his talented friend is wasting his time on graffiti. Ramon explains he needed to take a job at the hardware store, but it interferes with his artwork. He sees an all-white train on the "A" line and realizes he can achieve his dream by painting it that night after work.Later that evening, Kenny meets Ramon and helps him paint the train. Lurking nearby is Spit, who tags the train even before Ramon can finish the other side. Ramon chases Spit through a tunnel, they scuffle, and fall onto an electrified rail, killing them both.After Ramon's funeral, Kenny is not sure about performing at the Roxy's New Year's Eve show. However, Tracy and Chollie help him assemble his idealized line-up of Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five, twenty-five break-dancers, the City College Dancers, and a Bronx gospel choir, and together, they produce a celebration of Ramon's life. Domingo, Ramon's father, is moved when he sees his son's artwork on the wall of a tenement building.