AllMovie

In this interesting drama based on a novel by Robert Cormier, flashbacks to two different periods of time mixed with scenes from the present slowly unveil the mysterious circumstances surrounding a lonely teen (Robert MacNaughton) who meets regularly with a psychiatrist delving into his past. The boy is in an institution and often rides around the grounds on his bicycle, pretending that the guards, groundskeepers, and personnel are his enemies. As the psychiatrist probes deeper, more of the boy's family's past comes to light. His father (Don Murray) had been a successful journalist until he testified in a criminal court case that made him a target of assassins -- and so he faked his death in an accident, changed his name, and moved out to Vermont. He never told his son who he was, and when he and his wife (Hope Lange) are killed one day in an "accident" the boy sees it and goes into shock. Now as he continues in his treatments at the institution, he begins to suspect that his psychiatrist and the institution's staff are, in fact, his father's enemies and orchestrated the assassination of his parents.