A Pat Riordan Story

The lock-step, do-do-do nature of American schools makes for restlessness and agitation. For some students, it’s even worse: a trigger to a downward spiral. Jobless and divorced, Missouri native Pat Riordan takes up teaching hard-to-handle teenagers in a small college town.

After the divorce, his sense of loss makes him a good fit for the boys of his classroom, who call their banishment from the mainstream being "bricked.” Riordan and the new school principal, former priest Doug Donovan, might know that a firm but calm and compassionate approach to teaching is the best way for their students to learn, but certain ego-driven administrators feel otherwise—and have begun making moves to change the curriculum and student population of the school.

As the school year unwinds, Riordan finds his way into the personal life of one of his students, Bobby, and gets thrust into the role of rescuer when Bobby's mother is abused by a live-in boyfriend.

Exploring loss, trauma, and adolescent dysfunction, Bricked follows Riordan, the students, and the staff in what might be the school's final year.