In 2003, middle schooler Ben Everett Blunck attends an all-boys water polo summer camp run by the blunt, hard-edged coach known as “Daddy Wags.” The camp’s social life revolves around the popular Jake Kayo Martin and his tight-knit circle, with Eli Kenny Rasmussen treated as the eccentric misfit who suffers from severe eczema. The others nickname Eli “the plague,” elevating his condition to a mythical stigma that they pretend to fear and laugh at, even as it deeply wears on him.
Desperate to belong, Ben tries to befriend Jake, which drags him further into the group’s cruelty toward Eli. As Ben grows conflicted—feeling complicit in the bullying yet moved by Eli’s quiet resilience—he begins to privately connect with Eli, even as he remains unsettled by Jake’s volatile temper and the urge to fit in at any cost. The tension escalates when Jake circulates a rumor that Ben has contracted the plague from Eli, and the rest of the camp shuns him. Ben denies the accusation, but a spreading rash signals that the social damage may be symbolic of something more fragile forming inside him.
Humiliation peaks after a night marked by a disturbing wet dream, and Ben tries to flee the camp. Daddy Wags offers a lukewarm pep talk that ends up doing little to ease the mounting pressure. The following day, Ben sees Daddy Wags rebuking Jake in private; Jake later suspecting that Ben has sided with Eli, the bullying intensifies. That night, the boys retaliate in a brutal prank, filling Ben’s bed with cockroaches and trapping him as punishment for his perceived betrayal. The cruelty continues during a practice game, where Ben plays with unrestrained gusto against Jake, scratching him and drawing blood. In retaliation, Jake lands a brutal punch and nearly drowns him, and Ben is expelled from the program.
The camp hosts a co-ed dance, a rare moment of communal cheer that highlights Eli’s ongoing isolation—he dances alone with a cardboard cutout he found earlier. Frustrated by Eli’s stubborn refusal to conform, Ben breaks the cutout, triggering Eli to retreat to the locker room. Ben trails after him, and a heated exchange ensues: Eli’s vulnerability is laid bare, and he ultimately cuts off one of his own fingers with a pair of scissors before leaving for the hospital with Daddy Wags. Ben re-enters the dance covered in Eli’s blood, and, witnessing Eli’s raw openness, he sheds his own restraint and begins to dance in the same wild, uninhibited way Eli had earlier, ignoring the stares and judgments of those around him. Through these events, Ben’s empathy deepens, and he experiences a moment of release that mirrors Eli’s fearless authenticity, signaling a painful but powerful turn away from cruelty toward a more honest self-expression.
