Tim Donovan, a juvenile probation officer for the city of Boston, is assigned the case of Nikki, a troubled teenage girl who's been arrested for Assault & Battery. Tim quickly falls under the attractive Nikki's spell, convinced her delinquency is deep-rooted, and sets out to uncover the truth.

A teenage delinquent who goes on a drunken joyride is left in jail overnight by his parents in the hope that he might learn a lesson from it. But events follow which result in the boy spending far longer behind bars than anyone had foreseen.

Boston, Massachusetts. A young black man falls off the roof of a housing project and dies. When the authorities suspect foul play, witnesses Donna and Billy, two white working-class teens, must decide whether to tell what really happened or face the consequences of growing racial unrest in their community.

Billy is a rebellious teenager who lives with his mother and brother, and works in a foundry. His parents are separated and he has not seen his father, who lives in another state now, for years. After being arrested for joyriding in a car that was stolen by a friend, Billy is sent to a juvenile correction center. But when his grandfather dies, and Billy hears that his father will be coming into town for the funeral, he walks out of the facility, hoping to re-establish a relationship with him.