16岁的少年利蓝•费兹格莱德(Ryan Gosling 饰)自闭、敏感,在某个午后,一个同龄人倒在了他的脚下。始终保持沉默的利蓝被指控犯有杀人罪送往感化院,两个家庭从此陷入悲伤和痛苦之中。 在感化院内,作家兼教师皮尔•麦迪逊(Don Cheadle 饰)为了写书,开始有意识地接近这个沉默寡言的男孩,经过一段时间交往,利蓝慢慢打开紧锁的心门,将自己的内心世界展示给他所信赖的好朋友……As a detached kid spends time in juvenile hall for the unspeakable murder of a special needs kid, a writer and the people around him try to comprehend and cope with his reasoning for commiting this murder from the writings in a classroom book from his juvenile class, where he tries to let people know "the why".