Lyle is filled with rage. After badly beating a classmate during a schoolyard fight, Lyle is committed to a juvenile mental institution in lieu of criminal prosecution. Inside the hospital, Lyle encounters a group of adolescents struggling with a variety of illnesses. The troubled teens are under the watchful eye of their psychiatrist, Dave, a reformed drug addict. As these complex youths fight to overcome a series of emotionally charged events we are constantly reminded of the line that separates them from their "sane" friends in suburban lives.