Why would a beautiful, seemingly healthy and happy child, who does very well in school from kindergarten through 8th grade, suddenly become totally derailed at age 14, and spend the rest of his life employing his considerable resourcefulness and intelligence to defy all the rules of common sense and "normal" living to follow some undefined vision of personal "freedom"? In an ultimately unrewarding battle of wills, this mother-son relationship travels a rocky road of sharing and silent withholding, caring and indifference, loving marred by episodes of helpless anger, frustration, disapproval and despair. The love survived. The sense of loss will never go away.