A former track coach decides to train a student with natural athletic talent. Tragedy strikes, forcing the student to confront everything that has been holding him back.
"4 Minute Mile" is the inspirational story of a high-school track star who falls upon hard times. A new coach puts him on the right path, but his resolve is threatened as tragedy strikes and forces him to confront everything that has been holding him back.
A boy asks his younger brother Drew (Kelly Blatz) to race his friends for a bet, and Drew wins. Later, they arrive home to find police taking their father away. 10 years later, Drew Jacobs is a member of his high school's track team, and has regular altercations with another runner, Eric Whitehall.
Drew is a high school student struggling to overcome the inner-city surroundings that threaten to imprison him.Drew gets manipulated by his own brother, Wes (Cam Gigandet), into running drug payments to a local dealer Eli (Rhys Coiro). Drew has nowhere to turn in a family with a deadbeat older brother and an overwhelmed single mom Claire (Kim Basinger). Drew's brother is a parolee himself & constantly looks down upon Drew.
Wes sends Drew to pick a package from Eli. But Drew finds that Wes had taken a package of drugs from Eli without paying for it & now Eli wanted payment, quickly. Eli was angry that Wes was sending Drew, instead of coming himself. Wes did not have the money to pay Eli. This prompts Eli to come by their home and threaten Wes to pay up.
Drew's only outlet is track practice, but that is taken from him as he continues down the path of his sibling; even the affections of a girl, Lisa (Lio Tipton), at school can't set him straight.An old track coach, Coleman, who also is Drew's neighbor and a loner after his son died in a car accident, observes Drew run to and back from Eli's place, and is impressed with his speed, five-minute mile pace.
Drew is kicked off the school track team after repeated run-ins with the fellow team member Eric & his problem with accepting the authority of his team coach Jacob. Drew continues running his brother's drug errands, though Eli threatens them both because Wes is too afraid to show his face when he owes Eli money.
Just as it seems hopeless, an ex-track coach Coleman (Richard Jenkins), with his own demons (Coleman's kid was a spectacular football athlete trained by his own father & had a promising professional future in American football but died in a freak car accident) witnesses Drew's speed and athleticism and decides to train him to reach for more than he ever imagined possible. The High School coach Jacob was also trained by Coleman. Coleman owned the high school record himself for the mile race.
Together they work towards finding solace in each other. Coleman takes Drew under his wings & trains him harder than Drew has ever been pushed before. Drew wants to run the 400 m race, but Coleman encourages him & pushes him to train for the mile race.
Wes takes Drew to collect money from his customers, as he needs that to pay Eli. This cat and mouse game goes on for a while with Drew balancing his training with the increasingly dangerous life that Wes is leading & warping Drew into it.Problems at home escalate when Eli violently attacks Wes, spilling blood at their home after stabbing him. Their mother finds out about Wes' drug dealing and as their yelling increases, Drew slips out and runs, finally beating and facing the fear that always held him back.
Wes gets Drew to make the final payment to Eli, but Eli goes back on his word & hands another bag of drugs to Drew for Wes to sell. Eli wants Drew & Wes to work for him permanently.
To inspire Drew to run the mile, Coleman agrees to a bet that if he beat the current 400 school champ, then Drew can run the 400 else he has to run the mile. Drew loses and agrees to work with Coleman on the mile, if Coleman can train him to run the mile in 4 minutes & get him a scholarship to UC Berkley.
On Coleman's suggestion, Drew rekindles his relationship with Lisa. Coleman makes Drew watch the current mile champ Charles St James, who is running it in well under 4 minutes and says that he has to beat him at regional competitions if he has to make it to the state & qualify for the scholarship.But Drew's resolve is threatened as tragedy strikes right before the biggest race of his life and forces him to confront everything that has been holding him back.
The night before the regional meet, Wes forces Drew to take the money to Eli, but the money is only half of what is due to Eli. Eli is angry. Drew runs the race but loses to Charles St James. Drew is angry with Wes for making him go to Eli, when there was a good chance that Eli would have killed Drew. Coleman refuses to train Drew anymore.
The next time Wes asks Drew to do a run for him, Drew refuses & confronts Wes head on, who wants Drew to give up his "pathetic" dream & join Wes full time. After this Drew realizes that he can run past through his pain. He approaches Coleman again & asks him to train him, which he does.
However, Eli shows up at their home with a gun and Wes confronts him armed as well. Observing from his window, Coleman calls the police but brings a baseball bat with him to stop the fight. Instead, he is accidentally shot by Wes, who is later arrested, but Coleman dies.
Broken, Drew is in an unstable state until Coleman's funeral, where he realizes that he should break the four-minute mile for both him and Coleman. Many friends, family, and teachers gather at the docks to watch Drew run, and the scenes also compare his style with St. James, who is running at the same time at the state meet. St. James attempts to beat his current record but makes a 4:02 mile while Drew breaks the four-minute mile at a 3:57.The film ends as St. James runs for UCLA and Drew for UC Berkeley, as they run in an NCAA championship.
