A wounded man makes a desperate call, reporting that a gunman is holding a coffee shop hostage and shooting anyone he pleases — but when the SWAT team shows up, the madman opens fire. Through flashbacks, a waitress serves an array of customers, all of whom are blissfully unaware of how their lives will be horrifically changed.

Explore the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the “fellowship” apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels.