Rachel Martin

Set in 1960s Dublin, a fatherless eight-year-old boy who feels alienated by his family, escapes his reality by deciding he's been sent from Mercury to study life on Earth. His fantasies mirror the life of his hero, Flash Gordon, from the serial he watches each week at the local cinema. His escapades result in dilemmas that drive his mother to such distraction that she turns to the boy's strange uncle for help.

Tommy is a 28-year-old man who escaped his hellish childhood by murdering his abusive father. After a prison stint, Tommy's work release program gives him a shot at a new life when he is placed as a cook at St. Michael's School in L.A, There he meets Guillermo, a neighborhood kid who is committed to keeping him out of trouble, and Sophia, a schoolteacher who educates him in a subject he knows nothing about--love.