e by his relationship with his distant father Marty (Bruce Altman), who brought a trophy girlfriend into the house less than a month after his wife's death. Howie's only solace is the company of his best friend Gary Terrio (Billy Kay), a juvenile delinquent and hustler. Gary is attracted to Howie, but Howie is unsure of his own sexuality. They have two other friends their age, one of whom, Kevin (James Costa), has an incestuous relationship with his sister. The four boys routinely break into neighborhood houses. One night, they break into the house of Big John Harrigan (Brian Cox) during his birthday party. Gary knows his way around the house; it is later revealed Big John is one of his steady clients. Big John discovers them, ripping a pocket off Howie's pants as they escape with a pair of valuable North Vietnamese pistols. John confronts Gary over the burglary and Gary names Howie as his accomplice. He approaches the boy at a diner, pretending that he knew his mother. He offers the boy a ride home and Howie is impressed that Big John happens to drive Howie's dream car. Once he has gained Howie's trust, however, he pulls out the torn pocket and demands that Howie return the guns. Howie gets only one gun back from Gary's room, and returns it. John wants 00 compensation for the other gun and Howie offers to work for him to pay off the debt. John puts on a pornographic video showing heterosexual oral sex, then sits down beside Howie. He starts to stroke the boy's thigh and says, "What have you got that's worth a thousand dollars?" Howie does not respond to his advances, and quickly leaves the house. John has a 19-year-old live-in lover named Scott (Walter Masterson) who says to John as Howie leaves, "You should be ashamed of yourself." John responds, "I am. I am. I always am." When he returns home, Howie masturbates to a fantasy involving both John and the girl in the video. Gary then steals money from Howie's father and disappears to Los Angeles. This abandonment affects Howie and his confusion over his sexual identity worsens. John and Howie begin a tenuous friendship in which John becomes a kind of father figure to the boy. There is no sexual activity, but there is talk of sex. Howie realizes that he wields sexual power over John, something John is all too aware of. Howie stays over at John's house and John asks Scott to go and stay in a motel for a few nights. Howie wanders round the house and discovers a stash of child pornography. Some are pictures of a younger Gary and others are of a blond 11-year-old boy, confirming that John is a pedophile. Scott comes into the room and warns Howie not to take John from him. Meanwhile, Marty, whose fraudulent construction practices are unraveling, happens to see Howie playing hooky from school. He loses his temper and hits the boy. That same day, he is arrested for installing cheap wiring, and when Howie returns home to find him missing, believes his father has abandoned him. Later that evening he comes into John's bedroom wearing just his underpants, expecting John to sleep with him. When John tells Howie his father didn't abandon him, but is in jail, Howie breaks down and cries. John leaves him to sleep by himself. The next morning, John is all charm, fixing Howie breakfast and taking him to see his father in jail. Howie's father apologizes for hitting him, and promises to spend more time with him once he is out of prison. Howie is unconvinced, and merely tells his father never to hit him again. After dropping Howie off, John returns to the local rest area where young hustlers wait for johns, and sits in his car. Scott, devastated by John's abandonment, drives by and shoots him dead. In the final scene, Howie contemplates the expressway, vowing he won't let it get him too.

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