The movie’s protagonist is a rebellious teenager called Jim Stark who is only seventeen years old. At the beginning, the latter is in police custody for public drunkenness. Indeed, it appears that Jim can’t help get into trouble. So, his parents attempt to find the best way to handle the situation, but finally, they just quarrel while the teen is squabbling with the commissioner. As a matter of fact, we’ll discover that Jim’s parents feel always forced to move from one town to another in order to run away the trouble instead of simply coping with the problem. The next day, the young goes to school for the first time in this new town. He meets a younger boy nick-named Plato. Almost abandoned by his family, he sees in Jim some kind of paternal figure. Anxious to fit in, Jim’s involved in a dispute with a guy called buzz who is considered like a local bully and, at night, they decide to settle their differences by playing a dangerous game widely called « Chickie Run » during which they have to hop into stolen cars , race towards the edge of a cliff and jump from it the last moment. Unfortunately, Buzz dies. Jim runs off during the night in order to go away from Buzz’s gang. Helped by Judy and Plato, he takes refuge into an isolated house : Fellow or « lost souls ». While Judy and Jim enact the role of Plato’s parents, the gang goes on to try to kill Jim and the scene ends with a Shakespearean