Wesley Peters is the dream boy of Duffer Springs, Colorado. Part of the graduating class of 1989, Wes plans to finish out his senior year on top of the world. The night he's crowned prom king, he finds out his dad, a well-respected financial advisor for their small community, has been arrested for bank fraud.

Overnight Wes goes from prom king to pariah. Drowning in legal fees and bills, Wes and his mother move out to the boonies, where Wes is all but isolated from his old friends. He's lost his scholarship, his social status, and his relationship in one fell swoop, promising him the worst summer of his life.

After embarrassing himself at a party he wasn't invited to, Wes takes the long way home. In doing so, he runs into Nicholas Hoffman, his new neighbor a few blocks down. Nicky is a high school dropout who fronts a local metal band called Blüdsucker. As they spend more time together, they become friends, and soon, fall head first into summer love.

When a local college quarterback decides to set his sights on Wes to take revenge for the sins of Wesley's father, Nicky just might be the only friend Wes has left in the world.