In their final year at Muncie's Southside High School, a group of seniors hurtles toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They are also learning a great deal about life, both in and out of school, and not what school officials think they are teaching.

"One of the best and most scarifying reports on American life to be seen... it has the characters and language - as well as the vitality and honesty... haunts the memory."—New York Times

"Truly scandalous."—J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

"[SEVENTEEN has] a rare and gripping sense of gritty honesty."—Judy Stone, San Francisco Chronicle

"SEVENTEEN is more frightening than 'The Day After' "—The Atlanta Constitution