A year ago, 17-year old Benjamin Porter, was in a knife fight defending his biker friend, Craig Marse. Tonight he’s sitting in an aisle seat with his voluptuous girlfriend Joan Ponti watching Romeo fight Tybalt in a duel. Joan is an actor (“Don’t call me an actress; I’ll kick your ass.”) from another high school who works with Ben at the local movie theater. Where Ben sees a vivacious girl free of judgment, Joan sees an attractive, naive male ingénue who is ripe for manipulation. Joan’s flattery encourages Ben to gradually drop all his adolescent guards and expose his vulnerabilities, insecurities, and foibles. But Joan reveals and exploits all of Ben’s flaws for her personal gain, hoping to control and change his journey. He embraces the world of Joan Ponti and her thespian friends as a way to learn about and express himself, only to find the drama created on stage is nothing like the intrigue created in Joan’s duplicitous cast.