Trama

A homicidal twelve-year-old paperboy becomes obsessed with a woman and her daughter next-door, and he'll do anything to make his fantasy of the "perfect family" come alive.

A paper-boy murders an old lady only to lure her family from the city out to the country. As each day passes the paper-boy tries to make friends with the family. Once the family sees what a sicko he is, they banish him from their lives. Then the terror begins.—<chopp@gte.net>

Johnny McFarley, a 12-year-old paperboy, arrives at elderly Mrs. Thorpe's home and asphyxiates her with a plastic bag, as she watches a video card of her daughter Melissa and granddaughter Cammie.

When Melissa returns home from teaching seventh grade English for summer break, she receives a phone call informing Melissa of her mother's death. Melissa and Cammie travel back to Melissa's hometown for the funeral. Once they arrive at Mrs. Thorpe's home, they are greeted by an enthusiastic Johnny, who offers to take their luggage inside. Johnny asks permission to join them at the funeral. Riding in the funeral limousine, Johnny reveals that his mother is dead and his father, a salesman, is rarely around because of his job.

At the funeral home, he and Cammie sneak inside the room where the caskets are kept. Johnny gets in one, making Cammie uncomfortable; he intimidates her into keeping this secret. Johnny also tells Cammie that he took a nap in a casket on the day of his mother's funeral.

Afterwards, Johnny hides a baby monitor inside the Thorpe house so he can eavesdrop. Later, Melissa invites Johnny to a barbecue she and Cammie are having; Johnny accepts on condition he is allowed to cook. Johnny takes a video of the BBQ while he waits for Melissa, only to discover that she is going on a date with her boyfriend. Additionally, Johnny reacts violently when he finds out Cammie's babysitter is Brenda, who Johnny dislikes.

Johnny returns to Melissa's house to apologize, only to find Brenda making out with her boyfriend. Brenda catches him and tells Melissa about Johnny spying on her. The next day, Brenda catches Johnny on his bicycle and sprays him with water in retaliation. That night, Johnny seeks revenge, in turn, by causing Brenda to fall and injure herself, which is successful in his scheme. He then explains casually to Melissa the morning after that Brenda broke her neck and is now paraplegic as a result of her injury.

When Johnny takes Cammie along to collect money from his paper route, he tells her that his customer Mrs. Rosemont is a witch. When Johnny goes to retrieve his money from the mailbox, Mrs. Rosemont warns Cammie that Johnny is genuinely evil. When Melissa hears about this, she confronts Mrs. Rosemont, who claims she was only warning Cammie about Johnny.

Johnny sneaks into Melissa's house to make an apple pie, telling Melissa his mom always made him one when he behaved. Melissa is not pleased. She tells Johnny she is not his mother and asks him to leave. Johnny gets mad and breaks a plate. He then pulls back a knife as if he is going to stab Melissa and Cammie, but instead stabs the table and glares at them. Later that night, Johnny, along with his father, apologizes. Melissa tells Johnny he is no longer allowed to visit unless he is invited. She tells his father he should spend more time with him. Johnny's father gives his son a set of golf clubs to apologize for being absent, and tells Johnny that they will be spending much more time together in California because of a recent promotion. Fearing that he will not see "his family" again, Johnny kills his father with a fold-out putter, declaring he already has a new life, and buries him in the basement cooler. Johnny then moves his father's car into the garage and calls his father's company, telling them he is ill and no longer interested in his promotion.

Melissa learns from Mrs. Rosemont that Johnny was emotionally and physically abused by his authoritarian, religious mother, and that he murdered her by pushing her downstairs. Melissa calls Brian and tells him they can have Johnny placed in foster care if they can prove he's neglected or abused. Johnny overhears this (owing to his eavesdropping device); he grows angry and rides his bike to Mrs. Rosemont's house. He snatches her asthma inhaler and makes her believe he killed her dog - he actually smashed ketchup bottles while the dog was in another room, unharmed. Mrs. Rosemont has a fatal asthma attack.

Johnny goes to Brian's workplace, a marina, knocks him out, and sets him and the marina on fire. Unknown to Johnny, Brian manages to regain consciousness and escapes. Johnny then calls Melissa and tells her to come to his house. Melissa refuses until she hears Cammie calling her name. Johnny reveals that he killed Melissa's mother to lure them to the house in hopes of starting a new family. Melissa frantically searches Johnny's house wherever she hears Cammie's voice only to find that the sound has been coming from Johnny's home movie and the baby monitor in the basement. Melissa refuses to be Johnny's mother, declaring that she and her family do not love him. After being enraged and heartbroken, Johnny tries to bury Melissa in a hole created for his father, but she escapes.

Now completely unhinged, Johnny pursues Melissa and Cammie with a pickax. Johnny and Melissa struggle with the ax until the police arrive. Johnny frantically claims Melissa is crazy and tried to kill him, even saying she murdered his father. The cops seem to believe Johnny at first. However, to his shock, Johnny sees Brian step out of the squad car, saying that it's over, having already told the police everything. The cops take Johnny away as he breaks down hysterically and vainly maintains his innocence, while the cops have a talk with Melissa, Brian and Cammie about the whole situation with Johnny as the movie ends.