Language: English.

Odessa, Texas has seen better days. For sale signs are everywhere, movie theaters are closed, store fronts are empty. Still, Odessa has a dream. Once a week every fall, the Panthers of Permian High School take to the football field under Friday night lights and 20 thousand fans fill the stadium with cheers for their beloved team and their own dreams.

In Friday Night Lights, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist H.G. Bissinger chronicles a season in the life of Odessa, its teachers, parents, politicians - and most of all its students and players who carry the city's image on their young shoulders. This account examines the role of high school sports in America and many of the issues at the core of our society - race, politics, education and economics. A portrait of American life.