He is instructed in the preliminary line-up:You gonna fit in real good, of course, unless you get rabbit in your blood and you decide to take off for home.During questioning, he asserts to the juvenile officer: "Nobody can help me."The housemaid answers all questions directed toward Plato, and explains how his mother habitually deserts him and his father left the family long ago:It seems like she""s always going away somewhere.On first approach, he is momentarily distracted and turns away from the skate.But then, of course, he urns and steps on the stray skate and does a perfect pratfall as he exclaims: "Beautiful morning, isn""t it?" - he somersaults spectacularly into the living/dining room."A wealthy, lonely, land-owning, raw-boned farmer (Shepard in his acting debut) of the Great Plains falls in love with the girlfriend (Adams) of a hot-headed wheat-field worker (Gere), who is masquerading as the field hand""s sister.