The film tells the sad and grim story of Harlon (Nick Krause), an emotionally traumatized young man growing up in a small town who finds himself the target of relentless bullying from classmates and family members alike. As a child, he suffers endless emotional abuse from his drunken, drugged-out father (Sam Trammell), and equally relentless teasing from his siblings, while his mother cannot muster the strength to do much of anything about it. In a misguided effort to man Harlon up, his dad takes him and his brother hunting one day and forces Harlon to kill the titular lagomorph with the shotgun he was given as a birthday present. This only adds to Harlon's inner turmoil and leads to him being haunted by visions of the wounded rabbit as well.
Years pass and when we see Harlon again a high school junior, things have clearly gotten worse over time. His dad is still a brute, he is still the target of bullies and the clear signs of psychosis that he is demonstrating are ignored by anyone in a position to help him—instead of recognizing that he has a problem, his school principal coldly informs him that his tanking grades mean that he will be repeating the 11th grade, adding to his humiliations. He has exactly one friend, Steven (Ryan Lee), a younger kid who cries all the time and is another bully target as well, and they pass the time in an abandoned factory shooting things with Harlon's rifle. One day, they even rescue a dog from a garbage bin and take it home with them but without going into detail, that does not go well.
Things begin to change for the better at last with the arrival of Julie (Britt Robertson), the new girl in town with issues of her own regarding substance abuse. Despite her troubles, she and Harlon strike up some sparks and in a perfect world, they would be able to come together and overcome their respective problems. This is not a perfect world, however, and after a sort-of date goes horribly wrong, Julie disappears for the rest of the summer. When she finally does return as school begins in the fall, she has undergone a number of significant changes that are good for her but which prove to be devastating to Harlon. Finally, Harlon is attacked by another bully and for once fights back in a violent manner, a long-overdue outburst that finally pushes him over the edge with tragic results.
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