 A quiet school truant officer, Joe, uncovers a young boy s attempt to fake a residential address, and subsequently gets involved romantically with the boy s mother. The truant officer waffles between a sadistic relationship with his on-again, off-again girlfriend and the mother. When one of the officer s inventions takes off, he chooses the girl and shatters the friendship with the boy and his mother. Only at the last possible moment does he figure out what he s sacrificed, and attempts to get it back.