Young Chicagoans Byron (Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard) and Nina (Nicole Ari Parker) are stuck in a one-tumbleweed town after their car breaks down on the way to Los Angeles. Befriending the geeky, melancholy son of a racist garage mechanic, the quarreling lovers become more involved in the locals" ugly secrets than they ever could have imagined. In the vein of Crash, Spark is an insightful study of race relations that also works well as a bare-bones thriller.