SYNOPSIS:

The night of the new moon in the dark and dieing city of Pittsburgh: Responding to a mysterious note John risks going out after curfew and finds himself under the Sixth Street bridge. He witnesses most strange voices and singing up on the bridge. He soon finds himself banished from the dismal walled city of Pittsburgh. Much to his surprise he finds there is a vibrant life beyond the city. There is dancing and women and color and laughter and hard work. Much to his surprise he also finds his long lost eccentric father. Another mysterious note calls John back to the City to save his old friend Link. His father volunteers to go with him. Their canoe trip into the city pits son against father but turns deadly as they enter the city through the river walled off with a maze of concertina wire. In the city they discover what's going on up on the Sixth Street bridge. With little foretelling the unimaginable truth is revealed. 17 year old males celebrate their 18th birthday by refusing to enter into adulthood. On the night of the new moon they gather for ritual suicide. Somehow there is no enforcement of the curfew. To the sound of deep voices chanting and singing of "Coming Through the Rye" celebrants climb the tower and leap to their deaths in the river below. John and his father witness Link's birthday celebration. John's dives into the river but fails to save his friend. But Link and John were born only days apart. And the new moon repeats the next night. Separated from John, his father finds Juliet, John's sister. The race is on to find John before the next night. Juliet and her father and the unnamed author of the two mysterious notes coverage on the identical Seventh Street bridge - the wrong bridge. As the chanting and singing ramp up a single gunshot rings out. Everything stops. There are no guns in the city. Juliet cries out for "Johnny Tom!" her nickname for him as a child. He climbs down. Another gunshot rings out. The children survive.