This feature length documentary film follows four teenagers from deprived upbringings and how they respond to their negative experiences.  Their difficulties serve as a portal to an intimate profiling of their lives.  As the central characters’ stories unfold we learn what informs their perceptions, attitude, relationships and behavior and to what extent the environmental stressors they have faced is determining their future.  In particular, the audience witnesses the impact of a father’s absence during their childhood and encounters the universal longing for a parental connection.


The story examines the genesis of resiliency in young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and explores ways they can beat the chalk player.  Such youth are often perceived and portrayed either as the victims or victimizers of society.  However, the film’s central characters illustrate that a difficult childhood has the potential to be of benefit to a young person later in life, for it can create a sense of resiliency, resourcefulness and strength of character not to be learned anywhere else.  Their possession of some exclusive advantages and internal assets not commonly held by those brought up privileged may be the key to unlocking the door of their inherited circumstances and ushering in a future of hope and fulfilled dreams.  However, this does not come without the tremendous cultivation and nurturing of these attributes and the film captures the efforts of others involved in the four teens lives attempting to offset the negative influences of their formative experiences.