Charlie is a shy kid who has recently been discharged from the hospital.
He is writing a letter to an unknown pen pal because tomorrow is his first day of high
school.
He wants things to change, but his shyness gets the better of him.
At lunch, he wishes to have company, but his elder sister Candace refuses since her earth
club is senior only.
Charlie then turns toward his old friend Susan, but she ignores him.
In one of his classes, Charlie is introduced to Patrick, a senior who has to repeat a freshman
class.
Charlie's last class is English, and Mr. Anderson notices Charlie writing all the correct answers
to his questions in his notebook.
After everybody has left, Mr. Anderson encourages Charlie to participate more.
He knows Charlie has had a rough year and empathizes with him.
But Charlie assures Mr. Anderson he's okay.
But high school can be tough, so Charlie decides not to tell his parents about it, or they
will worry about him.
He wishes that his aunt Helen was there.
She would have understood how he is both happy and sad.
Charlie wishes he would make friends soon, but that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime
soon, as he still gets mistreated and eats lunch alone.
But things change one day when Charlie musters up courage and talks to Patrick from his shop
class.
They are watching a football game, and Charlie starts a conversation with him.
They are soon joined by Sam.
Charlie gets to hang out with them after the game.
They have food together and talk about music.
Charlie shares that his aunt Helen said he should be a writer.
Sam advises Charlie to write about her and Patrick, and Patrick adds a hilarious name
to it.
Charlie asks them how long they have been dating, as they seem very happy.
Both laugh and Sam tells him that Patrick is her step-brother.
They give him a ride back home.
Charlie is happy after a very long time, but his smile soon disappears when he sees his
sister's boyfriend, Derek slap his sister after an argument.
He tries to intervene, but Candace pushes him out of her room and says she can handle
it.
Charlie keeps getting flashbacks of his aunt Helen.
At the homecoming, Charlie is standing alone against the wall.
Finally, when they start playing good music, Sam and Patrick take it to the dance floor
and perform their living room routine.
Seeing them have so much fun, Charlie decides to join them.
After the homecoming, they take Charlie to their friend Bob's party.
There Charlie unknowingly eats a brownie and soon starts entertaining everybody with his
hilariously honest opinions.
He asks for a milkshake, so Sam makes him one with the ice cream.
They start talking, and Charlie reveals he had a friend, Michael, whom he lost last year.
Sam is stunned to hear this and feels bad for Charlie.
While looking for the bathroom, Charlie walks in on Patrick and Brad, the most popular guy
in school.
Patrick makes him promise not to tell anybody, and Charlie promises.
Sam talks to Patrick about Charlie having no friends.
So Patrick raises a toast to Charlie the wallflower and their new friend.
This gesture touches Charlie.
Sam welcomes Charlie to the island of misfit toys.
The three go out for a ride after the party.
An unknown song plays on the radio, and Sam says they have to go through the tunnel, as
this is the perfect song for standing up behind the jeep, and spreading her arms as the jeep
cuts through the freezing winds.
Charlie looks at Sam and can imagine how liberated and infinite it must feel.
With Sam and Patrick by his side, Charlie has started indulging in a lot of activities
that he thought he never would, like listening to Sam's collection of songs, reading extra
books outside class, and writing essays.
It turns out Mr. Anderson is also a writer, and helps him with his extra activities.
Charlie's favorite time is lunch when he meets Sam, Patrick, and Mary Elizabeth, who acts
like his father after a "long day," and Alice, who steals jeans from the stores even though
her family is wealthy.
Charlie likes Sam and makes a mixtape for her so she knows how he feels.
Charlie also visits The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where Patrick and Sam are participating.
At the after-party, Charlie finds Sam sitting alone.
He asks if everything is okay.
She is worried she wouldn't get into Pennsylvania State University because she didn't score
well on her Scholastic Assessment Test.
Charlie offers to help her study for the next exam.
He gets jealous when he sees Sam dance with her boyfriend, Craig, a photography student
in college.
Charlie starts tutoring Sam.
Soon it is Christmas, and Charlie helps Sam with her secret Santa plan.
Mr. Anderson gives Charlie his copy of his favorite book as a Christmas present.
At the Christmas party, Charlie gives personalized gifts to Sam, Mary Elizabeth, Alice, Bob,
and Patrick and gets them emotional.
Sam gives Charlie a typewriter to thank him for his help.
They talk a little, and Sam reveals her troubled past.
Charlie tells her his aunt had something similar done to her, but she changed her life around,
and so can Sam.
Charlie tells her his aunt was his favorite person in the world until now, indicating
Sam has taken that place.
Charlie's family takes extra care to make Charlie's birthday special, because it was
on this day he lost his aunt Helen in an accident.
He frequently gets the flashback, and after the new year's party, he wanders off into
the street and lies on the fresh snow, to make a snow angel as he remembers his aunt.
He soon passes out and wakes up in the hospital.
His parents and an officer questioned him about the incident, but he denied taking anything
and said he was tired.
Craig was supposed to be the Rocky for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but he didn't show
up.
Charlie is asked to play his part.
Charlie enjoys himself on the stage.
After the show, Mary Elizabeth asks Charlie to go to the school dance with her.
They soon get into a pseudo-relationship, but Charlie cannot get Sam out of his head.
Charlie goes along with the relationship because he is too good to hurt somebody's feelings.
But he soon gets an opportunity.
One might consider it one of the worst ways to break up, but it had to be done.
The group is playing truth and dare, and Patrick asks Charlie to kiss the prettiest girl in
the room.
Mary Elizabeth expects it to be her, but Charlie turns toward Sam, to her dismay, upsetting
both Sam and Mary Elizabeth.
He apologizes, but a simple apology wouldn't work for the mess he has created.
Patrick advises him to stay away for a while.
It has been two weeks since he has not spoken to his friends.
He feels he is going back to the dark place as the flashbacks come very often now.
One day Bob tells him that Brad's father caught Brad and Patrick together.
Charlie thinks Patrick needs a friend right now, so he approaches him in school only to
be shunned.
During lunch, Charlie is sitting alone.
One of Brad's friends trips Patrick and Brad laughs at Patrick with them.
He then calls Patrick some very derogatory things, and a fight breaks out.
Brad's friends corner Patrick.
Sam tries to intervene but is pushed aside.
Charlie comes to rescue Patrick but blacks out.
When he regains his senses, he sees his knuckles bruised and Brad and his friends on the ground.
He warns them to stay away from his friend.
He ends up in the principal's office, but Brad tells the principal what happened and
saves Charlie from detention.
While coming out of the office, he thanks Charlie for stopping his friends.
Sam meets Charlie outside school.
She asks how he is doing, and Charlie confesses that he doesn't remember doing anything.
Sam tells him he saved her brother.
Charlie is concerned that now she might be scared of him, but Sam says she is not.
Charlie gets back to being part of the group again.
Mary Elizabeth tells Charlie she is dating Peter, a college student like Craig.
Charlie is happy for her.
Patrick asks Charlie if he wants to get out of there, and Charlie agrees.
They go to sit on a bench, and Patrick breaks down, telling Charlie what had happened with
him and Brad.
Charlie starts spending more time with Patrick to help him heal.
Sam soon got an acceptance letter from Penn State.
Sam is leaving right after graduation, and Patrick is going to the University of Washington.
But he was not going to leave without organizing the best senior prank ever.
He had painted all the tools baby pink.
It is the last day of school before the summer break starts.
Charlie asks Mr. Anderson if he is leaving for New York, but Mr. Anderson says he likes
it here.
Charlie tells Mr. Anderson he is the best teacher he has ever had and hugs him.
Mr. Anderson smiles as Charlie leaves.
All the students do a countdown for the final bell of the year and cheer as it rings.
The group decides to see the last sunset of their last day of high school together.
Candace finally broke up with Derek and went to prom with her friends.
Charlie clicked many pictures of his friends as they got ready for their prom.
He was happy because his friends were happy.
After prom, Sam discovers Craig has been cheating on her this whole time.
Charlie comes to her graduation ceremony and hugs her.
He believes it is her time to shine after whatever happened.
At Sam's going away party, Charlie wanted to tell Sam about their ride and how for the
first time, he felt as if he belonged somewhere.
She will be leaving the next day, so Charlie gives her all his books because they are a
part of him.
Sam gets emotional.
Charlie stays with her late, helping her pack.
She tells Charlie she had lunch with Craig for the first time after they broke up.
She wonders why they pick people who treat them like they are nothing.
Charlie repeats what Mr. Anderson had once said to him; we accept the love we think we
deserve.
He tells her that he wants her to be happy.
They confide in each other about their feelings.
The next day Sam leaves.
Charlie's mental health deteriorates as he starts banging his head repeatedly, saying
'my fault.'
He tells himself to stop crying as tears keep rolling down his cheeks.
He calls Candace, who is at her friend's place, and blames himself for aunt Helen's accident.
Candace quickly asks her friends to call the cops and send them to her house.
The police break opens the door and find Charlie unconscious.
He is taken to the hospital, where he meets with the psychiatrist, Dr. Burton.
She helps him by getting his repressed memories back so they can address them.
It is revealed that Charlie's aunt took advantage of him when he was a child, and Charlie's
parents break down when Dr. Burton tells them this.
Charlie stayed in the hospital for several days.
Sam and Patrick visit him once he is released from the hospital.
Sam tells him she found the tunnel song, and they go for a ride, only this time, it is
Charlie spreading his wings with the love of his life, knowing he's not a sad story,
but alive, listening to the song and in this moment, he believes we all are infinite.