Mental illness and relationship problems intertwine as two lovers struggle to stay together against extraordinary odds. Set in 1980, the film revolves around Mark Deloach (Jonathan Tucker), a rebellious teenager with a bullying, overbearing father (Joe Mantegna). In a moment of boredom, Mark decides to spy on promiscuous fellow teen Sue Dubois (Agnes Bruckner), but he winds up in a head-on car crash with a local priest. Both sets of parents decide to punish their children--Sue's mother (Carrie Fisher) puts her daughter in the local mental hospital, and Mark's Dad swiftly dispatches him to the Marines. Mark feels guilty, so he visits Sue during his time off from the military, where he immediately falls in love with her roommate, former pop singer Dori Lawrence (Rachael Leigh Cook). Dori and Mark begin a long-distance relationship through frenetic letter exchanges. Meanwhile Mark endures daily humiliation from his officious drill instructor Skeer (Val Kilmer), who resents Mark for enrolling in the military because of former misdemeanors. As Dori develops full-blown schizophrenia, Mark begins to excel in his military life, and eventually wins respect from his fellow soldiers, and Skeer. Sadly unable to grasp the seriousness of Dori's illness, Mark receives a wake-up call via a botched military job in Beirut, which leaves him hospitalized. The role of caregiver is suddenly shifted to Dori, leading to some poignant lessons in life for the star-crossed lovers. Director Reverge Anselmo draws on the experience of an impressive cast throughout, creating a provocative and offbeat story of a complicated teenage relationship.