Bright and attractive but vulnerable and sad-eyed, Megan Denning lives in a deplorable situation in Ohio. Her single mother Diane works full-time and attends evening school. She is so engrossed with herself that she not only lends no support to Megan, but also expects her daughter to help her. Megan's emotionally disturbed little sister Lily mutilates herself and eats very little, if anything. Divorced dad is out of contact and remains behind in his sixty dollars per week support payments.
Still worse yet, Megan has not a single adult person to fall back on. It does appear that she catches a break when Mr. Auster, her high school English teacher, begins to mentor her, and encourages her talent in poetry writing, her emotional outlet. Megan had impressed Auster with her poem, "The Blue Car," about the time her father moved out and left in his
blue car. Auster asserts that Megan can do even better, and perhaps enter the state contest where he is one of the judges. After that there is the national poetry competition in Florida. At the beginning Auster keeps his distance, and uses his authorial demeanor to his own good advantage. He gives Megan an A+ for a poem, and writes "Be brave," a possible double entendre. Megan finds a chocolate car wrapped in blue with her belongings, a present from the teacher. Auster gives his student a ride home in his car, and then shares his lunch more than once. Gradually closing in, like a lion on an antelope, Auster is available for emotional support when a tragedy strikes the Denning family. He hugs Megan deeply. The flawed Auster is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and Megan is aloof to the danger. Along the way she makes several wrong decisions without apparent regret. Will she be able to extricate herself in the end?
This is a serious and depressing story, not a romance. Supporting the movie is the good acting while the characters are more than one-dimensional.
