Why aren't you smiling?

"When teenager Leonard decides to quit being a Dweeb and instead joins the Burnouts, his 'good kid' persona is abandoned as he embarks on a comically painful journey of self-discovery through his unconventional friendship with Rick, an older Jesus freak barefoot hippie. The farcical parallel story of how Irving Mandelbaum from Los Angeles transmogrifies into rag-tag cult leader Rick of The Forever Family pains an indelible portrait of California during one of its most preposterous eras."--Page 4 of cover.