Amy George

Living as the only offspring of his middle class liberal-minded parents Sabi and Tim in Toronto, thirteen year old Jesse is much like most boys in his situation, where he is no longer doing things he did as a child like climb trees, but is starting to think about more adult issues without fully understanding them. He also doesn't talk to his parents much about what's on his mind, he hiding things under his mattress he doesn't want them to know. According to Tim, Jesse is at a stage in life where most people would not like him. Jesse wants to be an artist, that idea spurred by a class assignment called the Freedom project: to take photographically a figurative self-portrait, either how one perceives him/herself or wants to be perceived, with the actual photo subject being one's own choice. In reading about the philosophies of being a true artist, Jesse believes his uneventful existence hasn't prepared him properly for the artist life. Often with camera in hand, Jesse goes on a new direction in life to experience those things without knowing how to go about it or fully comprehending the ramifications of his actions or behavior. Beyond his friends, he is influenced largely by two people. One is Tara Morrison, his parents' friend who often helps him with his homework and is the adult figure to who he turns at this stage in his life when questioning those adult issues. The other is Amy George, the slightly older teenaged girl living a couple of houses down, she who is the manifestation of many of those artistic fantasies.