In a leafy Boston suburb, David pushes his dog in a baby carriage to a pier on a pond. He secures a rope around the carriage and the dog, and he pushes it into the water. At home, he has fish in several aquariums in the basement. His parents show concern about him and try truncated communication; his older brothers punch him in the arm. His next-door neighbor, Ellen, who goes to a private school, waves hello. He and two friends, both geeks and into fish as well, go to the evening meeting of the Boston Aquarium Society. David notices Ellen there; he leaves a lecture to find her in a room with penguins and jellies ("they're not fish"). They talk and she shows him something. Only connect.