The year is 195. Fourteen-year-old Alex is rebellious by nature and scarred by childhood tragedy in the southern community of Evening Shade. An outcast in his own family, mute at an early age, Alex expresses himself by writing imaginative stories and by concieving daredevil stunts. In the aftermath of one of his stunts he being cared for by a nurse who is murdered and Alex seeks revenge on the man responsible for her murder.