An innocent teen finds himself set up to take the fall for a vicious killer and must fight back or face imprisonment.

SYNOPSIS:

During the summer of 1975, in the mining town of Sudbury, life is simple. Adults are hard working and God fearing. Children spend most of their time out of doors, playing ball or raiding gardens.

DANIEL DIXON is the natural leader of a group of friends because of his fairness and courage, and standing up to bullies. He tries to emulate the heroes in the stories he reads.

During a trip to the local swimming hole, the boys stop to help a former teacher, Mrs. Bailey who finds her pet brutally killed. Shortly after, Daniel finds other dead animals, but the killer, STEPHEN has found him. Daniel and SUSIE are chased by the stranger and are saved by an old Italian known as the ‘Bat.’

Playing war games ends with Daniel’s group facing off with a rival neighborhood gang. Before the conflict can escalate, both sides are peppered by a hidden enemy with a pellet gun. The kids assume all the incidents are the results of the same person and Daniel comes up with a plan to map out the areas where the animals being killed.

The killer leaves a note challenging Daniel to confrontation and Daniel decides to reverse the trap to identify the unknown person. In doing so, Stephen unknowingly leads Daniel to a hidden bunker where tortured animals and stolen items are stored. The Police are called in.

Days later, the police arrest Daniel as the evidence, and statements point to him as the killer. His best friends betray him. Confined to his yard, the stranger attacks Daniel in his clubhouse and taunts him. With nothing to lose, Daniel runs away from home to hunt down the killer.

After days of surveillance, Daniel finds where Stephen is living. He spies the boy trying to destroy evidence by leaving a bag of animal skulls in the path of the slag dump. Daniel rescues the bag, hoping the police will find finger prints. He enlists a strange group of allies to help him. Needing more evidence, Daniel sneaks into the killers home and finds photos of his friend’s family that have been used to coerce the false statements against Daniel.

With the evidence, Daniel goes to the police, and his friends recant their statements. Stephen burns down the home of one of Daniel’s allies to eliminate the bag of skulls, but before she dies, Mrs. Bailey saves the evidence by putting them in the fridge. Because of the evidence, Daniel is exonerated.

In retaliation, Stephen kidnaps Susie to force Daniel to face him. Daniel saves Susie and then gives chase to Stephen, who leads them into the slag dump. During the confrontation, Stephen falls into the molten lava and perishes.

Daniel follows through with Mrs. Bailey’s suggestion to write out his story in her memory of friendship.