In 1979
Azusa, California,
Rocky Dennis, a teenage boy with the extremely rare genetic disorder known as
craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, is accepted without question by his freewheeling bohemian
biker mother, her boyfriend Gar, who is a father figure to him, his "extended motorcycle family," and his maternal grandparents who share his passion of
baseball card collecting; but is treated with fear, pity, awkwardness, and teasing by those unaware of his humanity, humor, and intelligence. Rocky's unstable mother, Florence "Rusty" Dennis, is determined to give Rocky as normal a life as possible, in spite of her eccentric and chaotic life as a member of the Turks
biker gang, as well as her strained relationship with her father Abe. She fights for Rocky's enrollment in a
junior high school, and confronts the principal Mr. Simms who would rather classify Rocky as
intellectually disabled and relegate him to a
special education school, despite the fact that his condition has not affected his intelligence. At his semi-annual physical, Rocky claims to be feeling well despite recurring excruciating headaches that Rusty can simply remedy by helping to calm him by focusing on happy memories. A young inexperienced doctor tells Rusty that Rocky's
life expectancy is limited to only less than six months, but she scoffs, pointing out that other doctors made erroneous claims about Rocky's condition (e.g. he would be deaf, blind, intellectually impaired, etc.) that were all completely disproven. Rocky goes on to thrive at school, making many friends with his wit and humor, tutoring his classmates for $3 per hour, as well as assisting a fellow student with his locker combination, and telling an entertaining rendition of the
Trojan Wars to his history class. Shortly before graduation, he is asked by the principal to accept a job as a counselor's aide at
Camp Bloomfield, a
summer camp for visually impaired children, which he is hesitant to accept. At his graduation from junior high, Rocky takes home several academic achievement prizes in mathematics, history, and science. Rocky feels the need to help his chronically
depressed and
drug-addicted mother break her drug habit by leaving
drug rehabilitation pamphlets around the house one night at a party. This causes a row to erupt between them and he decides to accept the job offer as a camp counselor. At camp, Rocky falls in love with Diana Adams, an attractive
blind teenage girl, who cannot see but feel Rocky's deformed face and is entranced by Rocky's kindness and compassion. Rocky explains to Diana words like "billowy," "clouds," "red," and "green" by using
cotton balls as a touchable vision of "billowy clouds," a warm
rock to explain "red" and "pink," and a frozen rock to explain "icy blue." Diana and Rocky also share their first kiss at a New Year's Eve themed dance. At the end of camp, Diana introduces Rocky to her parents, who are horrified at the sight of his abnormal appearance and forbid Diana to spend time with him. Rocky finds it more difficult with attending a
high school with none of his old friends from junior high, and continues to encounter increased cruelty from students regarding his deformed face. However, where Rocky used to respond to it with wit and humor, one day he lashes out and slams a bully against a locker after being taunted for having a “mask”. He is further crushed when his lifelong ambitious dream of a motorbike trip through
Europe is shattered when his best friend Ben, who was to accompany him, reveals that he is leaving Azusa and moving back to
Michigan permanently to live with his father. However, Rocky is able to take a bus trip to visit Diana at the equestrian stables, located near
Griffith Park, where Rocky learns that her parents have prevented her from receiving his phone calls and messages and are sending her to a
private boarding school for the blind and they will likely never see each other again. Despite this, Rocky vows that despite being separated, they will always love each other and will always be together even in their memories. One evening, when Rocky's biker family is visiting and trying to cheer him up, Rocky is fighting an excruciating headache and withdraws to his room, removes the tacks from his map of Europe, and goes to sleep. The next morning, Rusty gets a call from the school, questioning why Rocky is absent. Rusty finds him in his bedroom and tries to wake him up, but she realizes that Rocky has died in his sleep and flies into a fit of grief-stricken rage, destroying the kitchen. After mourning Rocky's death, Rusty then hugs Rocky's corpse and tearfully tells Rocky, "Now you can go anywhere you want, baby," and re-pins his map. Rocky's biker family, Rusty, Gar, and Dozer, later visit his grave, leaving flowers and some
1955 Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cards by his headstone, while a voice-over by Rocky himself is heard reciting the poem he wrote for English class. ==Cast==