The pressure – social and academic – is high for the teenage students of an elite secondary school in Belfast; Can poetry, friendship and a trip to Spain give them the courage to be true to themselves?
17-year-old Drew has won a scholarship to Cooke’s Academy, an elite secondary school in Belfast. The pressure is intense and he’s not sure he fits in. Then Adam, captain of an elite clique known as the stewards, welcomes Drew into the group and school life seems to become easier academically and socially. Drew starts to go out with Chloe. Actually, it is Chloe’s best friend, Charlotte, who he likes but Adam says she is off limits. Drew doubts Adam speaks the truth – but he knows going against him will come with a cost.
At home things are complicated: Drew’s ex-girlfriend is pregnant, and he feels he is losing touch with the friends he grew up with. Spanish, especially the poetry of Lorca, helps Drew express things he cannot otherwise share. On a class trip to Granada Drew, Charlotte and Chloe act and speak openly – with consequences bad and good.