The harsh winter and great outdoors of upstate New York provide Benjamin with the only solace from an otherwise agonizing existence. His mother's abusive alcoholic boyfriend, the bully on the bus, and a Math teacher who pays a little too much attention to schoolboys are slowly chipping away at his dignity and feelings of self-worth.Benjamin clings to any sense of normalcy until a series of compounding events drives him to the very edge of suicide. He begs God for help - a divine intervention - but his prayers go unanswered and he has an epiphany: God helps those who help themselves.