Zack Glazer (Michael Rapaport) is a white Jewish teenager and aspiring rapper living in Detroit with his sex-obsessed father Richard (Ray Sharkey), who owns a record store. Zack falls in love with a black transfer student named Nikki Patterson (N'Bushe Wright), who turns out to be the cousin of his best friend Dee Wills (DeShonn Castle). Dee supports the relationship, but many of their classmates disapprove, especially Nut (Ron Johnson), who wants Nikki for himself.
Zebrahead contains examples of:
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: At a party, Zack's friends ask him what having sex with a black girl feels like. Zack tells them, "The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice." Nikki overhears the conversation and storms off, thinking Zack only sees her as an exotic trophy. She spends some time avoiding him before eventually accepting his apologies and taking him back.
- Flipping the Bird: Nut and one of his friends make faces at a school security camera. Nut flips it off.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Nikki's mom doesn't actively interfere with her and Zack's relationship, but she's worried Zack is "slummin'." At school, the other kids hassle them for dating outside their race, especially after Nut shoots Dee. When their lockers are covered in insulting graffiti, Mr. Cimino (Dan Ziskie) blames Zack for not "sticking with his tribe."
- Minor Living Alone: Nut lives with some friends in an abandoned house across the street from Nikki. When Mr. Cimino says he wants to talk to Nut's parents, he's evasive about why they aren't available.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nut is called Nut because he's crazy, he used to be really small, and his head is shaped sort of like a peanut. His real name is Calvin MacRae, but nobody uses it, even the teachers.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Zack talks like a black guy, records rap music, and listens to black musicians. Those traits combined with his friendship with Dee and romance with Nikki lead some kids to accuse him of wanting to be black, although he says he's just being himself.
- Shrine to the Fallen: After Dee Simms' death, the other kids cover his locker with pictures, flowers, and notes.
- Smoking Hot Sex: In an early scene, Richard's latest conquest lies smoking in his bed.
- Title Drop: Vandals write "Zebrahead," among other insults, on Zack's locker.
