Like many smart, ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's prestigious Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. So with single-minded determination, Craig aces the entrance exam and gets accepted. And, that's when everything starts to unravel.

Once Craig begins attending classes, he realizes a shocking truth: He is just one of the many brilliant kids who attend the school. In fact, he isn't even brilliant, he is just average. As Craig starts getting so-so grades, he sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. His anxiety mounting, Craig begins to have trouble eating, sleeping, doing simple things that used to be routine. He eventually realizes he is clinically depressed.

So begins Craig's battle with depression-which will involve seeing a myriad of specialists, taking medication, and at one desperate point, checking himself into a psychiatric hospital. At the hospital, he meets a motley crew of patients, among them his roommate, who is afraid to leave their room, a transsexual sex addict, and a girl who has irreparably scarred her face with a pair of scissors. As a hospitalized patient, Craig is finally forced to disengage from all the pressure in his life and learn how to cope again.