42 recounts the history-making career of Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era. Starting as a first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson broke the baseball color line on April 15, 1947—nearly a decade before racial segregation in the United States would be ruled unconstitutional.

Directed by Brian Helgeland, 42 focuses on Robinson's emotional rise to success in the face of extreme discrimination. Under the guidance and encouragement of Dodgers executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), Robinson became a champion, an MVP and an inspiration for the Civil Rights Movement.