In this highly regarded teen drama, Mick (Penn) is a tough teenager who, in spite of the attempts of his straightlaced girlfriend J.C. (Sheedy), can't seem to walk the straight and narrow. Escalating confrontations with a rival group of students led by Paco (Morales) ends in the tragic death of Paco's younger brother by Mick at the wheel of a car. Mick's incarceration takes him off the street and drops him into a new world of competition where he needs to establish his credibility in order to survive and does so with typical violent flair. The ironic arrival of Paco, jailed for the retaliatory and vicious rape of J.C., leads to a continuation of the brewing feud between the two angry teenagers.