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Maria Coughlin begins the film as a
selfish and insubordinate pregnant teenager behind a mask of heavy
make-up and a cloud of cigarette smoke whose inadvertent patricide soon
leaves her at the mercy of her mother. Maria's boyfriend, Anthony, is
equally selfish; he's furious that her pregnancy could wreck his chances
at a football scholarship. They break up. Matthew Slaughter is a
hostile and despondent electronics expert who is trapped in a world of
television ("the opium of the masses") and lives with his abusive
father. He carries a hand grenade with him at all times, "just in case."
Complete strangers, Maria and Matthew unexpectedly meet in an abandoned
house, where they had fled to temporarily escape their realities. A
peculiar unromantic magic occurs and Matthew takes her into his home.
From here, the two begin an unlikely relationship, each experiencing a
surprising metamorphosis activated by the other.
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