"Despite their individual weaknesses, these boys share within the group a feeling of strength and safety that bonds them together. As they bravely set out along the railroad tracks to find the body of a missing boy their own age, the journey begins innocently with a dream of becoming town heroes, but before it is over, Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern will be tested in ways they had never imagined.

By the time they eventually return to Castle Rock, it is more clear what
the future holds for each of these boys. Teddy and Vern, unchanged by the experience, are likely destined to stay in Castle Rock. As adults, they probably won't be much different from the boys they are in 1959.

Chris, sharing new-found strength with Gordie, is helped by his special friend to believe in his own potential for success. He will go on to college, eventually becoming a lawyer.

Gordie, through Chris' friendship and belief in him, begins to accept himself. Returning home, he will see that nothing in Castle Rock, or anywhere, will be quite the same again. For him, the trip becomes an odyssey of self-discovery, charting a pathway that will lead Gordie to becoming a highly successful popular writer.

Then, years later, he will tell this story ..."

River Phoenix (l.) and Wil Wheaton (r.) find a special friendship that gives them strength and belief in their own potential in 
Columbia Pictures' "STAND BY ME," based on the novella, 
"The Body," by Stephen King.

River Phoenix (l.) shows no fear confronting town tough 
Kiefer Sutherland (r.) in Columbia Pictures' "STAND BY ME."