Synopsis

In the distant future, twelve-year-old Dickie faces a government intelligence test. He is consumed by anxiety regarding the results, yet desperately wants to demonstrate his intellect. His parents eventually receive the news: Dickie has "passed," but the government eliminates anyone deemed too intelligent. In 1985, a feverish Peter Wood establishes telepathic contact with Charity Paine, a similarly ill girl residing in Puritan New England. The two delight in sharing their thoughts, and Peter