Jaime Escalante becomes a math teacher at Garfield High School (Los Angeles County, California) in East Los Angeles, California. The school is full of Hispanic students from working-class families who are far below their grade level in terms of academic skills and also have a lot of social problems. Escalante seeks to change the school culture to help the students excel in academics. He soon realizes the untapped potential of his class and sets a goal of having the students take AP Calculus by their senior year. Escalante instructs his class under the philosophy of ''ganas'', roughly translating to "desire" or "motivation."