This gritty, urban drama, starring controversial white rapper Eminem in his film debut, sparked a media debate on release and broke box-office records. Jimmy Smith (Eminem), aka Rabbit to his friends, has grown up on the wrong side of 8 Mile Road in the industrial city of Detroit. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Rabbit has to move back with his mother (Kim Basinger) and her new boyfriend but gets on with neither of them. His only solace is rapping with the group of DJs and MCs who go under the name of Three One Third. But he is a white boy in a predominantly African-American music culture and there are many who do not like it. Convinced that this is his only hope of getting out of the dead-end life he could end up living, Rabbit perseveres with rapping and is backed up by a new girlfriend (Brittany Murphy) and his friends.