"There was a huge public outpouring to the recent articles in The New York Times about Family Foundation School, a last-resort institution for troubled teens in upstate New York. It described the near 50% death rate of alumni-including many by suicide-and how the survivors lived with their trauma in the years after leaving the school. A follow-up piece this January covered the shocking facts that came to light through multiple lawsuits and the continuing...

Deanie is a beautiful and sensitive teenager who would do whatever her mother and her 1928 Kansas hometown find proper. Her boyfriend, Bud, has intense desires for Deanie and the two are very much in love. But, sexual pressures in society creates a rift in their relationship. She restrains herself while Bud acts on them, but with another girl. Bud's actions drive Deanie to madness. She is committed into an institution while Bud reluctantly obeys his...