The film follows a group of kids growing up in a depressed rural town in North Carolina, as seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Nasia (Candace Evanofski). After breaking up with her show-off boyfriend Buddy (Curtis Cotton III), she withdraws from her delinquent friends and becomes romantically interested in a strange, introverted boy named George Richardson (Donald Holden) who is burdened by the fact that his skull never hardened after birth. Tragedy strikes when George accidentally kills Buddy, and the group, fearing punishment, decide to hide his body. In its aftermath, George takes up the unlikely role of town hero.