Patrick Pennington is out of control, and seems to be heading for disaster. But when he meets Sylvia, he feels like his world has been turned upside down. Penn's seventeenth summer could be the most memorable of his life . . .
Forced to go to school one more year to graduate, Pennington seems alternately bent on proving he is the thug most of his teachers consider him and the gifted pianist the music master says he is.