The movie takes place in Detroit in 1968 and centers around young teenage protagonist Leonard Hobbs (Henry Rollins), who leaves home for college and meets old flame Maeby who runs an orphanage for unwanted girls. Leonard tries to adapt to life on his own and learns about self-esteem from Maeby's naive philosophy and wonders how hard life can really be if you don't try hard enough. Later on in the movie we learn about Leonard's terrible uncle who murders young Leonard's girlfriend for revenge and slowly loses himself