Flight | Plot Summary

Summary

Zits is a 15-year-old boy who has been tossed around foster homes ever since he was orphaned at the age of six. He has low self-esteem because of his appearance and his lack of stability and love. He has been physically and sexually abused in many of his foster homes, so rather than embrace any new family he constantly runs away from them. He prefers drinking on the streets with homeless men to living in a new foster home where he might get hurt.

Life changes for Zits when he meets Justice, a 17-year-old boy who describes himself as an old soul. Zits quickly falls into platonic love with Justice and looks at him as his only friend. Justice convinces him to become a violent revolutionary, and Zits shoots up a bank to please him. After he shoots the innocent bank patrons, Zits is shot in the head. When he wakes up he is in a motel room. It quickly becomes clear that Zits has traveled back in time and is in someone else's body.

Zits moves to a different body and time period every time he gets into an uncomfortable position and closes his eyes. He inhabits white men's bodies and Native American men's bodies of every age, and he witnesses climatic and violent moments in history. Every time he encounters a war or moral dilemma, he questions his own previously violent actions. He ultimately decides that war, revenge, and murder aren't justifiable and that the lines between good and evil are blurry.

Zits emerges from his time-traveling experience as a new person. He was once selfish and violent and took life for granted, but he now understands that his life has meaning and purpose. He deeply regrets his murderous behavior and realizes that he's been given a second chance. For the first time in his life, he accepts help when it's given and moves in with a new family without running away.