Their small town saw Alex Anderson and Kevin Rubenstein as the most unlikely of best friends, but that is just what the handsome athlete and the artistic Jewish brainiac are: inseparable buddies since childhood. Then Kevin dies in a motorcycle accident, and his parents blame Alex. And Alex blames himself. His grieving derails both his studies and his football, and he is sent away to a camp for troubled youths in the wilds of southeastern Oklahoma. Borderline suicidal, Alex finds his way back to sanity among the pine trees and clear lake waters thanks to a girl with a secret, a group of misfits, and the most unselfish gift a person can give another.