Goats

Fifteen-year-old Ellis Whitman leaves his home in Tucson to begin his freshman year at Gates Academy on the East Coast. He bids farewell to his mother Wendy, a flaky New Age figure, and to Goat Man, the only father figure he has known. His biological father, Frank, left when Ellis was a baby, setting the stage for a complicated family life.

Ellis befriends his roommate Barney Cannel, a cross-country runner, and their friend Rosenberg, who is adept at slipping through trouble. He also takes an interest in Minnie, a local girl who works in the school library, despite rumors labeling her a prostitute. These early friendships pull him into the social currents of Gates Academy.

Goat Man and Wendy are incommunicado, a pattern Barney points out. Ellis learns on the phone that his mother has a new boyfriend named Bennet who is rude and disrespectful. The news unsettles him and adds instability to his home life at a distance.

Ellis receives a letter from his estranged father, Frank, inviting him to spend Thanksgiving in Washington, DC. He decides to fly to Washington with Barney, who is also visiting his mother for the holiday. The invitation promises a chance to understand his paternal history, however briefly.

Ellis flies to DC with Barney and meets his father Frank and his pregnant and kind-hearted wife Judy. The reunion shows a gentler side of Frank and hints at a possible new family dynamic Ellis has not known at Gates.

During the visit, Barney tells Ellis that he is in possession of marijuana. Ellis sneaks out for the night, seeking freedom or escape, but Frank discovers that he has left. The episode adds tension to Ellis’s fragile holiday experience.

On the way back from DC, Ellis and Barney end up drunk and fighting in their Gates dorm, causing damages. A wall dent results in a $700 charge to Wendy, and Ellis ends up in the school hospital, highlighting the consequences of their reckless night.

With the chaos behind him, Ellis begins to form a closer bond with Minnie, seeking steadier, more honest connection amid his family drama. The friendship offers a counterbalance to the turbulence of his home life and the drama at Gates.

Over Christmas break, Ellis returns to Tucson and discovers Goat Man slept with their young but malicious neighbor Aubrey. The revelation shakes Ellis’s sense of trust in the adults who raised him and complicates his view of family loyalties.

The affair with Aubrey exposes the fragility of the adult figures Ellis has relied on, leaving him to reckon with how much he can depend on the people who have shaped his life. The breakdown challenges the basis of his family connections.

Ellis returns from Christmas break with his faith in the adults who raised him shaken. He must navigate a path between Gates Academy and the less stable home life, aware that his relationships with Wendy, Goat Man, and Frank have been irrevocably altered.

The events of Ellis's freshman year leave him uncertain about his future and how he fits into the two worlds he inhabits. His relationship with the adults who guided him has been deeply challenged, signaling a need to redefine his sense of family and belonging.