Michael Marino and his hard core Marine Drill Sergeant father had just moved to a small town in New Jersey to try and start a new life. While living in a new town, beginning his second year in a new high school, and dealing with the recent death of his mother, Michael finds it hard to cope. On his first day of high school, Michael stumbles into a friendship with two neighborhood boys, Eric, a mild mannered class clown, and Martin, a talkative chubby boy with a heart of gold. Michael and Eric quickly become good friends. Not long after, Michael begins to date Lisa, a quiet and shy girl from his school.

While trying to fit in, Michael gets into a tangle with a couple of neighborhood bullies and quickly gets the reputation of being the neighborhood bad boy. A wedge is then driven between Michael and his father that leads Michael down a difficult path. A chance meeting causes Michael to befriend a junkie, Rich, who sees Michael's future better than Michael sees it himself. Through it all, Lisa stands by Michael as their love for each other begins to grow. Lisa's close friend, Liz, manages to hide her true feelings toward Michael while enduring her own hardships.

Michael is the typical confused and troublesome teenage boy who is forced to learn about life and death, friendship and unconditional love, at an early age. Lisa is the naive young girl who, for a time, manages to fill the void in Michael's life. Rich blurs the good boy/bad boy line through his untraditional friendship with Michael. Eric is the best friend whose innocents and good nature gives support to Michael through his words of reason. Liz transcends as the usual teen heroine with her hidden unconditional love for Michael and helps him with her good sense.