m&j

MATT WIRES (17), a high school football star, is forced to end his stellar career when his doctor diagnoses him with a life-threatening heart condition. Despite this, Matt remains in good spirits, as he is still regarded as a local hero.

A year later, Matt returns home to find his mother, a single woman burdened by immense financial pressure, overdosing on sleeping medication. Matt calls 911, and paramedics arrive, but Mrs. Wires passes away.
At first, Matt expresses complete uncertainty about his future, until he sees a news story about an NFL coach leaving the league to coach at a high school in California. This prompts Matt to call his childhood friend DAVID, who attends that particular high school. Over the course of Matt and David’s phone conversation, David suggests that Matt should live with him.
Matt moves to California and begins living with David. On his first day as a student at David’s school, Matt has an encounter with JENNY, a fellow student. Jenny is grateful when Matt fixes her phone, while her friends look down on him for his lower-class status. During class, Matt is caught drawing a picture of Jenny by STEVE, her boyfriend. Steve responds by antagonizing Matt.
When Matt performs exceedingly well in gym class, he is recruited for the football team, which he accepts despite his underlying health condition. Both Matt and David are invited after class to a party, where David tries to warn Matt about continuing to pursue Jenny while she is in a relationship with Steve.
Meanwhile, Steve is verbally abusing Jenny upstairs over how they have not had sex yet. Steve hits Jenny, which leads to Matt and David intervening and a fight breaking out. Matt and David rescue Jenny and bring her to their place, where Matt and Jenny share a romantic moment.
Matt continues to impressively play for the school team and work the night shift at a local diner, despite his heart condition affecting his motor skills. His medication helps alleviate his condition. Meanwhile, Jenny breaks up with Steve.
The next day, Matt and Jenny flirt with one another. They ultimately decide to go on a date that night. Matt picks Jenny up from her mansion, where he meets JENNY’S FATHER, who disapproves of them as a couple. Matt and Jenny go on a date that starts at a restaurant but ends at an arcade where they play Daytona USA.
Steve takes the news of Matt and Jenny’s courtship badly. He tries to get revenge in various ways, such as running David and Matt off the road in his car, sabotaging the football team’s plays so that Matt is injured, and hurling a brick through David’s window while Jenny is staying over. All this pressure leads to more heart problems for Matt, who runs out of heart medication and is forced to go to the hospital.

Jenny joins Matt in the hospital, using her wealthy father’s influence to coerce the doctor into seeing Matt early. When the doctor makes Matt’s heart condition apparent, Matt confesses that he did not tell Jenny about it because he was afraid that she would leave him because of it.
Jenny’s father grows increasingly restless over his daughter’s blossoming relationship with Matt, as he believes that Steve is her rightful suitor. He forbids Jenny from going to the prom with Matt, which makes things awkward for Matt when he and Jenny are crowned prom king and queen without her in attendance. As Matt leaves the prom, dejected, Jenny’s father confronts him, declaring their relationship over.
Matt retreats to the diner, where he has a flashback to his alcoholic father leaving him with the declaration that he will never be loved. Jenny interrupts his flashback, declaring her love for him. They share a dance inside the diner, only for Jenny’s father to interrupt with an army of goons that kidnap Jenny and abscond with her in a helicopter.
Jenny’s absence severely affects Matt’s performance, both at school and at work. He responds by purchasing a pistol and trying to commit suicide. He is stopped when he receives a call from Jenny, who has been forcibly relocated to Washington.
Matt goes to Washington, sneaks into the mansion where Jenny is being kept and they have sex. Matt and Jenny escape the mansion and share a romantic moment underneath the stars.
The next morning, Matt and Jenny return to the mansion to get Jenny’s things so they can run away together. When they arrive, Matt is ambushed by Jenny’s Dad and Steve, who beat him and take him into the nearby woods.
Jenny’s Dad gives Matt one last chance to give up on his relationship with Jenny, even willing to pay him any amount of money. However, Matt refuses, again declaring his love for her. This prompts Jenny’s Dad to give Steve a gun and order him to execute Matt.
Jenny arrives, begging her father to stop. Matt makes a proposition in which he and Steve fight. The loser determines who will be Jenny’s rightful suitor. Jenny’s Dad, believing Matt will lose due to his weakened state, agrees to the wager.
At first, Matt wins the fight. However, Jenny’s father distracts Matt, allowing Steve to incapacitate him. Jenny’s father then gives Steve another gun, ordering him to kill Matt. However, Steve hesitates and ultimately refuses to murder Matt. Disgusted, Jenny’s father goes to shoot Matt himself, only for Jenny to sacrifice herself by jumping in front of Matt and taking the bullet.
The police converge on their location, arresting Jenny’s father. A grief-stricken Matt grabs Jenny’s father’s gun and commits suicide-by-cop. His soul leaves his body, watching the commotion below as he and Jenny transition into the afterlife.