Four mentally handicapped men live in a communal residence under
the supervision of an earnest, but increasingly "burned out" young social
worker named Jack. Norman, who works in a doughnut shop and is unable
to resist the lure of the sweet pastries, takes great pride in the huge
bundle of keys which dangles from his waist; Lucien P. Smith has the mind
of a five-year-old, but imagines that he is able to read and comprehend
the weighty books he lugs about; Arnold, the ringleader of the group,
is a hyperactive, compulsive chatterer, who suffers from deep-seated
insecurities and a persecution complex; while Barry, a brilliant schizophrenic
who is devastated by the unfeeling rejection of his brutal father, fantasizes
that he is a golf pro. Mingled with scenes from the daily lives of these
four, where "little things" sometimes become momentous (and often very
funny), are moments of great poignancy when, with touching effectiveness,
we are reminded that the handicapped, like the rest of us, want only to
love and laugh and find some meaning and purpose in the brief time which
they, like their more fortunate brothers, are allotted on this earth.