Manic plot
"You can't escape yourself."
Manic is about a group of young people in the juvenile ward of a psychiatric hospital in California. Lyle has beaten someone up with a baseball bat at school and has no control over his tantrums. In the ward, which is mainly populated by emotionally damaged children from wealthy families, Lyle initially refuses to be dragged into the psychological minefield. But when he protects a gay boy from the brutal ward bully, he gets involved anyway. Then he also develops a relationship with the timid, suicidal Tracy. The group therapist Dr. Dave is straightforward in all his goodness, which makes him the subject of ridicule, but also a stable father figure to the group. He doesn't expect a total recovery from his pupils, but is pleased when they face their problems and realize they can be helped.