Leland (Ryan Gosling) seems like a reasonably pleasant and easy-going kid. And then one day he kills a developmentally disabled boy, the brother of his girlfriend. It isn't that no one seems to know the reason. It seems that there just was no reason. Leland had always been polite to everyone and kind and gentle with the boy, volunteering to walk him home from school. A cop dismisses Leland as just another SFK (sick f-ing kid). But he does not seem angry or violent or unstable. He does not even seem upset. He is cooperative, truthful, and placid. In the juvenile facility, teacher and frustrated writer Pearl (Don Cheadle), is intrigued and decides to write Leland's story. Leland's father (Kevin Spacey) is a successful novelist who can write sensitive stuff, but is aloof, even merciless in his interactions with other people. He can’t help Leland, but he can stop Pearl from exploiting his story. But Leland wants someone to listen, and Pearl is all he has.