After 15-year-old Leland commits a chilling crime, he is sent to juvenile hall where he meets Pearl, a teacher and aspiring writer who dreams of making Leland's story into a book. As Pearl digs deeper into Leland's life and the people caught up in it - his mother, his famous writer-father, and his troubled girlfriend - he uncovers Leland's disturbing motive. The tables soon turn when the enigmatic teen forces Pearl to examine his own morally questionable behavior. Climaxing with a shocking collision of violence, understanding, and hope, Leland will take you to states you never imagined.