Pay It Forward

“When someone does you a big favor, don't pay it back...”

Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment), a 12-year-old in Las Vegas, believes people are basically good and wants to change the world for the better. His social studies teacher, Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), a man with scars on his face and his body, sets the class an assignment, and Trevor answers it with an idea. Mimi Leder follows Trevor's plan and his mother, Arlene (Helen Hunt), who drinks and works too hard.