This gripping examination of the empty moral values and mindless violence of three bored preteens is depicted without judgment and without sensationalism. The leader is Marty, a hyperactive boy with a natural talent for violence and destruction. One day he is bored and decides to rob a local house beside the railroad tracks. He enlists the aid of two friends and they end up holding a woman and her wheel-chair bound husband hostage while they callously destroy their home.