Plot

The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

This is the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year's Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn't been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4 year old daughter. He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing us that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant.—The Weinstein Company

Hayward, California, New Year's Eve, 2008. Twenty-two year old Oscar Grant, a black man, and his live-in Latina girlfriend Sophina are the parents of a preschool aged daughter Tatiana. Oscar is not perfect, he being an ex-con - his prison sentence for dealing drugs - having been caught cheating on Sophina, and having lost his job two weeks ago at the local supermarket from tardiness, his current unemployment which he has not yet told anyone in his hope of getting the job back. These bumps are in the process of Oscar truly trying to turn his life around, not only for Sophina and Tatiana's sakes, but his true love for them and of his mother, Wanda, whose support and tough love have fostered that want to be a better person. That love for Wanda and his family in general is demonstrated by Oscar spending much of the day preparing for Wanda's birthday party that evening, and willing to help his sister Chantay out of a financial bind despite he not even knowing if he will have enough money to pay his own rent due tomorrow. That path to a better life takes another more major bump that evening as he and Sophina take the BART into San Francisco to ring in the new year, that specific bump happening in an incident at Fruitvale Station in Oakland on their way home.—Huggo

The film depicts the story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, and his experiences on the last day of his life, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009. The movie begins with the actual footage of Oscar Grant and his friends being detained by the BART Police at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland on January 1, 2009, at 2:15 a.m. right before the shooting. The film shows Grant and his girlfriend Sophina arguing about Grant's recent infidelity. It later shows Grant unsuccessfully attempting to get his job back at the grocery store. He briefly considers selling some marijuana but in the end, decides to dump the stash. Grant later attends a birthday party for his mother, Wanda, and agrees to take the BART train to see fireworks and other New Year's festivities in San Francisco since she is worried about him driving..

Fruitvale chronicles the final hours of the life of Oscar Grant, the youth who was shot and killed by a BART police officer on Jan. 1, 2009 after he and his friends were pulled off a train at Oakland's Fruitvale Station in connection with an alleged fight.

Just after midnight on January 1, 2009, at Bay Area Rapid Transit's Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California, 22-year-old Oscar Grant is one of several Black men being harassed by BART police officers.

24 hours earlier, Sophina is in bed but won't let Oscar touch her because he cheated. After they have an unpleasant conversation, she is finally convinced to let him kiss her and possibly more, but they are interrupted by their young daughter Tatiana who can't sleep. Oscar is kind to the girl and lets her climb in bed with them.

The next morning Sophina gets ready for work and Oscar says he has the day off, but Tatiana gets taken to day care anyway. Oscar calls his mother Wanda and wishes her a happy birthday, and she tells him what he needs to get for the party that night. Oscar goes to the Farmer Joe's store and tells his friend Cato who works in the seafood department what he needs. Katie, a young woman, is having trouble figuring out what kind of seafood to get and how to prepare it, and Oscar starts to help her but realizes his Grandma Bonnie can do a better job. Telling Grandma Bonnie he is at work and Katie is a customer who needs his help, he asks her to talk to Katie and hands Katie his cell phone. Oscar goes to talk to one of the managers and asks if he can have his job back. He is told his job has been filled, and why should he hire a man who is always late and fire the other person? Despite Oscar's pleading, he does not get his job back, so after he retrieves his phone from Katie, he goes back to Sophina's place and retrieves a large bag of weed.

Oscar calls Marcus. who he can sell the weed to, and arranges a meeting. He texts Sophina to ask if they can spend her lunch break together but she has already taken it. While he is putting gas in this car, Oscar sees a stray or lost dog wandering nearby and pets it. Then the dog is hit by a car whose driver does not even stop, and Oscar tries unsuccessfully to save it.

Oscar drives to the beach and looks out at the ocean. One year earlier, his mother is visiting him at San Quentin and the visit starts well, but a white prisoner named Daniel asks if his mother is a snitch too. They nearly get in a fight but his mom and a guard calm him down. The visit does not go well after that, and Wanda says Sophina thinks Oscar just doesn't want to be with her and their daughter, but Oscar says he doesn't want them exposed to this. Then Wanda says she will not be visiting any more, and as she leaves, Oscar chases after her, pleading for a hug. The guards grab him and take him back.

Back in the present, Oscar dumps the weed and when Marcus arrives, Oscar claims he already sold most of the weed, and gives him just enough for one smoke, which Marcus does right there in the car.

Oscar picks up Sophina at work, and Sophina objects to the smell in the car. Oscar finally confesses that he has not had a job for two weeks, which upsets Sophina. Then Oscar picks up Tatiana at day care, and they have fun as they go to the car.

Sophina asks her grandmother to care for Tatiana so she can go out and have a good time on New Year's Eve. She is told to get her sister Rose to do it instead, even though Rose has six kids.

Oscar and Sophina go to Wanda's party. Oscar pulls a birthday card out of his pants, which he must have hidden after Chantay asked him to get a card from them. Chantay had to work. The family has a good time at the party, which includes an argument about whether to support the local football team. Tatiana blows out the candles on her grandmother's birthday cake.

Oscar plans to go see fireworks with his friends and Wanda tells him to take the train because it will be safer than driving, even though Oscar promises not to drink and has not drunk alcohol in a long time.

Oscar has a long last pleasant talk with his daughter as the girl is left with her cousins.

On their way to celebrate, Oscar's female friends need to use the restroom. Oscar asks Sammy nicely if they can use the restroom at his store, even offering to pay. Normally Sammy won't even let customers use his restroom, but he agrees when Oscar points out that people will do what they need to do anyway and it will have to be cleaned up. Peter's pregnant wife is also allowed to use the restroom, and Oscar and Peter have a conversation. Peter wonders why Oscar won't get married, and he says he is broke. Peter says so was he but he and his wife got married anyway. Peter says he made himself a success designing web sites, giving Oscar his card.

The friends get on the train and talk to people already on the train, including a lesbian couple Ashae and Lauren. It soon becomes clear the train won't make it to where they can party before midnight, so Oscar and his friends arrange for music to be played on the train and they have a party right there on the train. One man counts down to midnight. Guy Lombardo's music is not played.

Katie sees Oscar and is happy to see him. Then Daniel sees Oscar and they get in a fight. Oscar is just defending himself, and things quiet down quickly, but BART police are called anyway. Oscar and his friends get off the train at Fruitvale Station and try to escape, but the white officers eventually try to detain the Black men. Oscar protests he didn't do anything, which is not entirely true, and his friends also say they didn't do anything. Cell phones come out to film the situation. Bystanders protest the treatment of the men.

Downstairs, Sophina wonders where Oscar is, and she gets concerned when things start happening. The officers threaten to use tasers on the men who are resisting, and eventually there is a gunshot. Oscar is bleeding and he realizes he has been shot. He pleads for help and tells the officers he has a daughter. The officers seem more concerned about taking the apparently guilty men into custody, and cell phones are still filming. An ambulance shows up, which upsets Sophina, and then she sees it is Oscar who is being taken to the hospital. She calls Wanda.

Family members and friends arrive at Highland Hospital where doctors are doing their best. After asking if Oscar will recover, the family is told he is critical and the doctors will only do what they can. Wanda tries to get the family to stay positive, and she succeeds in keeping a positive attitude for a while. She gets the family to pray. But Oscar dies anyway. Wanda goes to the morgue to see him one last time but is not allowed to hug him because his death is being treated as a homicide. Wanda cries, saying she told him to ride the train because that would have been safer.

Sophina picks up Tatiana at Rose's house and takes her home. While they are in the shower together, Tatiana asks where her father is.

Words onscreen describe what happened after that, and a real observance of the Fruitvale Station incident in 2013 is shown, with the real Tatiana.