 Bedwetting, however, seems to be the least of Gerald's problems, as he suffers from a phobic reaction to school, which results in several unsuccessful sessions with a psychiatrist.Goodenow is also handicapped by a heavy-handed stepfather who is determined to make a man out of him, by physical force if necessary.Kramer and his screenwriter Mac Benoff decided to compromise Swarthout's time sequence by having the entire film set in the present with flashbacks into the past of all the boys, to explicate their presence at the camp.