"12 and 13-year olds are walking around with bulletproof vests on underneath their clothes", says a member of activist group CeaseFire. As a fight erupts outside their office, a petite woman in a head-scarf storms outside. Throwing herself into the heart of the melee, she berates the combatants. Taken aback by the woman's tenacity, the belligerents disengage and the situation is diffused. This unlikely diplomat is Ameena Matthews, daughter of famed gang leader Jeff Fort, former gang member, gunshot survivor, and Violence Interrupter.

Along with Eddie Bocanegra and Cobe Williams, Ameena roams the neighbourhoods of Chicago's South Side interfering in disputes and arbitrating between the aggrieved parties. "That story about sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you: words will get you killed". The Interrupters try to show the city's fatalistic youths that violence is no solution. They point to their own troubled pasts to show the suffering that necessarily follows bloodshed, but also to the possibility of a different future if brutality is averted.

All of The Interrupters are in search of salvation for the crimes of their own youths. But they are struggling against a deeply embedded culture of violence and despair. "We grew up gangbanging. It doesn't matter what you're fighting for. If you ain't with me, you against me and that's just how it's always been". Even today The Interrupters themselves are not immune from the violence. The risks hit home when fellow Interrupter Joel Sanchez is shot twice while mediating a conflict.

A tragic yet uplifting chronicle of courageous individuals striving to save their community. The Interrupters shines a spotlight on the plight of America's abandoned underclass, and the social ills that drive systemic violence.