Seventeen-year-old Jean, a troubled Jewish boy caught in the countercultural swirl of 1970s London, arrives at Compton Manor, a rural alternative boarding school for boys with “problems.” Dyslexic, antisocial and prone to violent outbursts, Jean has never made friends easily, and school has never been a place of safety or enjoyment. All of a sudden, he is befriended by Tom --- confident, charming, buoyed by years of good breeding and privilege --- and it seems as if Jean’s world might change. When things turn romantic, Jean is tipped into a heady, overwhelming infatuation. Now Jean skips class to venture into the woods, or sneaks across moonlit fields to see Tom, wondering if the relationship might offer a way out of a life marked by alienation. But what if the only true path to freedom is to disappear altogether?