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. After breaking up with her show-off boyfriend Buddy (played by Curtis Cotton III), she withdraws from her delinquent friends and becomes romantically interested in a strange, introverted boy named George 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.