Dean has been Stevie's best friend for two years. During that time, Stevie has helped him understand a very simple vision of what it is to become a man: Never to back down from a fight, drink and smoke what's offered, and above all, get "experienced" with women. Stevie's older brother, Eric, is a heroic manifestation of this model, and Dean recognizes his own home-life among his gentle father and responsible big sister as a liability in his quest for this brand of manhood. Sometimes, though, when he's alone, Dean finds himself longing for his recently lost childhood. Stevie's girlfriend, Tina, is impatient for her future. Bored by the social conventions of her peers, and unsure of the life she wants to lead, she at least knows it isn't this. Her friend Kelley is smart, studious and is beginning to outgrow her obedience to authority. She is a bit self-conscious like Dean, but more confident and therefore better able to traverse the dangerous social terrain of late adolescence. The ...