Ronny Dobbs was a weak, obese, amoral, obnoxious human being with a superior intellect even at fourteen when he met Vin Lupinski. Ronny felt that he needed to control everyone and everything to feel secure, and wanted Vin to be his best friend for life and share his passion for detective work and spying on people. Ronny saw leveraged information on influential and rich people as his salvation from a harsh world. He possessed no filter to achieving this goal. Vin and Ronny were polar opposites who found themselves in a strange friendship for three summer months when Vin moved to Stanton, CT when he was thirteen. Vin was tall, athletic, intelligent, sensitive and loved sports, but he had no one to hang out with so he spent his summer in Ronny's basement learning about mysteries and detective work. It was a game to him, a future vocation for Ronny. Their relationship ended when an embarrassing incident involving Ronny caught the attention of Vin's father. He forbade Vin from playing with Ronny and that was fine with Vin. There was a sinister and frightening aspect to the sad, little misfit. Vin knew Ronny was capable of despicable acts and hoped he would never see him again once they moved. Unfortunately, Vin's father's work brought him back to Stanton five years later. Vin wasn't mean to Ronny, but ignored him at every turn. Vin was a sports star, especially in basketball, and his goal was to obtain a basketball scholarship to be near his very serious girlfriend, Jill Willow. The day of the big game against their rival, Avril, Vin blew everything with one, uncharacteristic act, and was forced on the run for twelve years, never seeing Jill or his friends again. Fast forward to twelve years later when a woman pleads with Vin to attend Ronny's wake. Vin is stunned by what he sees and the level of resentment the people of Stanton still carry against him for blowing the big game. Vin's reunion with Jill and his friends engenders a seesaw of emotions from nostalgia to pure vitriol. As they talk it out, Ronny Dobbs's mark seems to on everything from then to now. When Vin and Jill's lives are threatened by Ronny's wife, this intellectual thriller takes twists and turns emotionally and physically. Vin begins to see his life as one big manipulation, and he needs to find the answers that he knows reside in Stanton. There is still a spark between he and Jill, and they need to know what happened and why, but most of all who. The adventure is set amidst the haunting themes of the movie, Casablanca--Vin and Jill's favorite movie and one that Ronny despised. The big question is whose view of the world will win in the end--Ronny's or Vin's.
