Living in small-town Ontario in the 1970s offers little interest or consolation for Charlie Knowles, teenage son of an angry "welfare queen" single mother. Sometimes his world seems "small and dark." As Charlie resigns himself to another summer of mowing lawns and skirting the fringes of trouble with his best friend, Randy, a chance encounter one weekend changes the direction of his life.
One morning Charlie meets Serge Boorman, and soon finds...