Imagine a young boy finding a hidden domain in his backyard where terrors lurk in the darkness, clawing at the very fabric of our reality. This boy is Maxwell and he gains no allies with this discovery. Instead he is mocked and abandoned by those who were supposed to nurture and care for him. His break with reality is thought to be another childish game gone too far-- an immature fear of the dark, waiting to be grown out of. His parents place him under the care of a distant children's hospital and later, a boys boarding school. There, Maxwell battles to overcome his fears and pervasive anxiety. To put away childish things and superstitions and become a man.