It′s a beautiful fall day. Walking through the park on his way to class, Eli persuades a punk-rock couple to pose for some photographs. Nate finishes football practice and goes to meet his girlfriend Carrie for lunch. John leaves his dad′s car keys in the school office for his brother to pick up. In the cafeteria, Brittany, Jordan and Nicole gossip and complain about their mothers′ snooping. Michelle dashes to the library, while John walks out onto the lawn, crossing paths with Alex and Eric. An ordinary high school day. Except that it′s not. So it goes with Elephant which continues Gus van Sant′s exploration of the world of the young and the searching that has distinguished his best films like Mala Noche, My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting. Working with actual high school students, Elephant unfolds with the minutae of adolescent lives, observing the comings and goings of its characters from a gentle remove. For each of the students we meet, high school is a different experience: stimulating, friendly, traumatic, lonely, hard.