In the winter of 1995, musicians gathered at a hip-hop club called The Shelter every weekend for a one-on-one performance competition. Jimmy Smith (Eminem) was the only white musician among the many black musicians. Although he was very talented, he would get stuck every time he performed on stage and was booed and laughed at. In addition to bravely facing the embarrassment of being booed off the stage by the booing crowd, Jimmy Smith also had to deal with the embarrassment of living in a small and cramped trailer with his mother (Kim Basinger) and half-sister. His mother's boyfriend, the parallel relationship between blacks and whites, his work and feelings, etc., were also his pressure. He tried to break through the shackles of family and group, and use music to express his anger and dissatisfaction with life. However, the first thing he had to solve was to overcome his cowardly self.