ZACHARY is a diabetic 12-year old who lives with his single mother, a night-nurse who looks after paralyzed people. He looks after his mother when she comes home exhausted from work, and he spends hours on his own spying on his neighbors, playing chess on his computer, and dreaming up stories. Their life is made up of loving routines.

Three things come to disrupt Zachary’s predictable life: their next door neighbor commits suicide on Christmas day; her apartment is taken over by JACOB, a mysterious biker; and a string of single women in the area are raped and killed.

 
To protect his mother, Zachary tries to unmask the killer. Just as his mother was becoming attracted to Jacob, he has a terrible motorbike accident that leaves him paralyzed, dumb, and incontinent. After a stay in hospital, he is brought back to the apartment block with his life support machine to be looked after by Zachary’s mother. Soon Zachary takes over his care because his mother cannot cope with 2 shifts. A strange relationship develops between Zachary and Jacob. Jacob communicates only with Zachary and helps him with his investigation. In exchange, Zachary promises to help him commit suicide.
 

Zachary finally discovers who the killer is and unplugs Jacob’s respirator. Zachary now holds the truth alone but a terrible secret drives him to hiding the killer’s true identity and incriminating Jacob, his best friend, instead.