Experience the crude, dangerous patriarchal era of "Forgotten Chicago" and the internalized homophobia that afflicted many straight or questioning young men of the time: In this late 1970s coming-out classic, an ex-Marine helps a homophobic football jock confront his troubled past. Joe Todd joined the Marine Corps to exercise his manhood, but the real test of courage comes when he falls for a macho jock who rocks his world. Tom Himmler is Glen Court High's champion jock.
He's a schoolyard bully turned juvenile delinquent. He's a heartbreaker who thinks life is a joke. Tom tries to forget the physical abuse suffered during his boyhood at the hands of his father, a rampaging alcoholic who later abandoned him. Seventeen-year-old Tom's macho denial unravels when his mother disowns him. The odds look slim that closeted All-American Tom will experience a healing connection on the streets of the Windy City. Joe Todd is a decent young man from South Carolina.
At 22, he's an ex-Marine living with a personal crisis. He relocates to Chicago to work through his feelings for a fellow serviceman, but Joe's heroic stint in the Corps was only extended boot camp for the real action to come. The glass cocoon of Joe's jarhead existence self-destructs once he begins to provide the tough love Tom badly needs.