This movie is about John Quincy Archibald (played by Denzel Washington) and his working class family who lived in Chicago. His son is diagnosed with cardiomegaly and he needs a heart transplant. He realized that his insurance does not cover the medical expenses and he decides to takes matter in his own hands.
John and his wife Denise (played by Kimberly Elise) worked in factories, but the money they made was not enough. Denise had her car repossessed and John had to take her to work. He was working a part time job with no hope for a second job. He tried to get a second job but he was told that he was overqualified. Here we see the principle of equality of fair opportunity and the principle of justice.
Their only son, Michael, loved bodybuilding and baseball. One day, he collapsed during the baseball practice. They took their son to the hospital and they were told that their son is very sick and he needed a heart transplant. Here we see the truth telling of the doctors. They were honest with the treatment and the money needed for the treatment, which was $250,000 and the 30% ($75,000) needed as a down payment to put his son on the donor list.
John went to work to find out that his health insurance got changed because he was working part time. There was no veracity involved from the employer. The employer change his PPO to a HMO health insurance coverage without his knowledge and that did not covered the entire hospital bills or the heart transplant. John went to the welfare office to get help but he did not get any because he was working and making $18,900 per year. Here we see the socialist conception of justice.
John started to get donations from people, he sold the stuff from the house and he finally raised six thousand dollars. He paid the money to the hospital and he found out that he is $30,000 in debt with the hospital. After paying the hospital the $6,000, his wife called him and told him that Michael will be released that day and it