Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a second-generation jazz musician and pianist who works as a middle school music teacher just to keep the lights on. His real dream is to become an on-stage performer. He has devoted all his life to music and hasn’t received much in return. That starts to change when one of his old students, Curley (Questlove), offers him an opportunity to audition for the renowned saxophonist, Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett).