A boy is born with leaves on his legs, and everyone thinks he’s strange. But as he grows, he discovers those leaves hold something special, a gift that changes his life and the people around him.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

In Stanleyville, the pencil capital of the world, James Junior and Cindy Green sit for a meeting with the United States adoption services. Their fate lies in the hands of Evette Onat, the social worker, so she wonders why they only put down the name ‘Timothy’ where parenting experience should be.

With this, Jim and Cindy reveal that they plan to tell their story with the time allotted.

It all began about a year ago, September to be precise.

Jim and Cindy pay doctor Lesly a visit, only to get told right off the bat that they can’t have kids. At this point, they’ve been trying for a couple of years already and getting told to give up really breaks their hearts.

It gets worse when they step onto the elevator, only to be joined by a lady and her toddler. Cindy struggles to stop herself from bursting into tears. The ride home is mostly quiet, but she can’t help breaking down minutes after they cross the border back into Stanleyville.

She manages to go about her life, resuming her job at the Crudstaff house and pencil museum. At the same time, Jim goes back to the pencil factory where Tommy, his colleague, hands him a flier for a meeting on Tuesday. As it turns out, the factory stands the risk of being shut down, so the townspeople want to discuss a way forward.

Anyway, the day goes by uneventfully, and Jim takes his wife home later on. The silence becomes deafening, and in a bid to escape it, Cindy leaves Jim in the kitchen to take out her frustrations on the garden. He just watches helplessly from the window, unsure how to intervene.

That night, she cries her eyes out in the nursery they’d prepared for their kid, and after some time, steps out to hug her husband. Cindy claims that she’s ready to move on and then heads to the living room to watch her gardening show. Or at least pretend to.

Jim follows her, turns off the tv, and makes it clear that he can’t move on from something they’ve been planning for years. He just wants them to act like they have a kid, even if it’s for one night. In a sudden burst of inspiration, he pulls out a notepad and writes down the first attribute their kid would have – that he wouldn’t give up.

He’d have Cindy’s good heart, be funny like uncle bub – she jots this down as her husband hands her the pencil. As Jim goes to the cabinet to get some wine, they really get into the groove of things. They want their kid to be honest to a fault, and he’d be musical like his parents. hey add as they share a laugh.

As they refresh their drinks, the couple hopes their kid would be a glass-half-full person. Since neither of them was athletic, they playfully wish their kid would score the winning goal. They even scream like it’s happening in real time, laughing and waving at thin air.

Cindy wonders what they’re going to do next, and their laughter begins to fade. Without uttering a word, Jim grabs a small wooden box, arranges all the notes inside, and heads to the garden with his wife. There, he digs up a spot in the ground and they bury the box together.

Much later that night, while Jim and Cindy are sleeping, a terrible thunderstorm comes out of nowhere. It’s escorted by enough wind to push open their doors, but that’s not the strangest thing that happens.

Outside, in the very same spot where the box is buried, thunder strikes. It’s so loud that it jolts Jim awake, but by the time he gets downstairs, the storm ceases. He simply locks the back entrance and heads to the fridge for some milk. It’s at this point that a smallish shadow darts past him.

He looks up but doesn’t find anyone, so he brushes it off and returns to bed to talk to Cindy. Weirdly, she’s in the bathroom and whoever, or whatever, was beside Jim darts away, just like the shadow downstairs.

Together, the scared couple head down, putting on all the lights as they go. After searching all downstairs and finding nothing, Cindy comes across their wedding photo, but it’s stained with some mud. Instinctively, she rushes back upstairs and into the room they’d set aside as a nursery. The moment they turn on the lights, they go silent – there, crouched and covered in mud, was Timothy, a mysterious ten year old.

While Cindy cleans him up, her husband steps to the kitchen and calls 911. He really doesn’t know how to explain the situation, but before he does, he realizes something outside his window – the same window with a view of the garden.

Jim runs up the stairs to tell his wife what he noticed, only for her to have him beat. She signals for him to look at Timothy’s feet, and when he does, he realizes that actual leaves are growing out of them.

Immediately, the youngster tells them not to ask about the leaves but gives them permission to look. They do this but it only raises more questions. It’s at this moment that Jim tells his wife to take a look at the garden.

Quietly, she excuses herself and makes her way outside. Upon getting there, Cindy realizes that the hole they buried the box in has been dug up, but it’s something more. It seems to be the same size as Timothy, not to mention the box being shattered, with their notes scattered all over the garden. This was a miracle.

Minutes later, Donnie from the police station pulls up with his partner at Jim’s house. They stop by to follow up on his 911 call but Jim lies that it was just some raccoons.

Noticing his wet yard, the officers remind him that he has to ration his water and they laugh when Jim claims that it rained. Apparently, it only rained in his house, but the cops brush off his claims, seeing as he’s safe.

Inside, Cindy gets Timothy dressed and then carries him to the kitchen counter for a late night snack. Jim quickly covers up the hole in the garden and joins them inside. For some unknown reason, Timothy would rather call them mom and dad rather than their real names, striking a chord with the childless couple.

They leave the room to regroup in private, mentioning how ‘Timothy’ was the only boy name they had in mind for their child. With this, they have no choice but to agree that Timothy was sent for them.

By the time they return to the kitchen, the youngster is fast asleep, so Jim carefully and quietly carries him to the room. The couple just watch as he sleeps, swooning over their godsend.

Miss Evette interrupts their tale at this point, and admits that she has never heard such a story in her life. Either way, she makes it clear that Jim and Cindy only have so long to tell it to her, so they get back to it.

The next morning, while Cindy and Jim are fast asleep, Brenda Best, Cindy’s obnoxious sister, bangs on their door. Apparently, she had forgotten that it’s their turn to host the family picnic. Timothy, being the first to wake up, heads downstairs to answer the door, and his parents wake up seconds later.

Panicking, Cindy rushes downstairs to run interference while her husband grabs Timothy. She then puts Brenda and the others on hold and joins Jim inside. He takes off his socks and Cindy wears them on Timothy, explaining that he shouldn’t tell anyone about his leaves or the fact that he came from the garden. Timothy understands.

Within the hour, they set up tables outside and Jim announces that the youngster was adopted rather quickly. Despite him begging them not to ask too many questions, Brenda barrages Cindy with nothing but. She quickly escapes to join her husband and son as they set up the grill.

They weren’t expecting him, but Jim’s dad, James Green senior, mostly known as big Jim, came. Timothy rushes to say hi, calling him grandpa like they’ve known each other forever.

Cindy steals him away, and introduces the youngster to her aunt Mel and Uncle bub, the people who practically raised her. That sense of humor they wished for their kid kicks in at this moment and uncle Bub can’t help but flash a smile. Timothy then goes round saying hi to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.

Soon, Big Jim suggests a game of dodgeball with the kids. They circle the field within minutes and he knocks out a couple of them like pins at a bowling alley, and a scared Jim intervenes to give Timothy some pointers. Just then, the sun comes out and he spreads his arms to bask in it, being the only kid left on the field.

When he opens his eyes, he catches a glimpse of Joni Jerome on a bike and is transfixed by her beauty. Big Jim doesn’t care, he slams the ball square on Timothy’s face.

Evette interrupts the story once again, wanting to know what Jim did when his father hit Timothy with the ball. In turn, Cindy brings up how he promised to be a better father than his dad ever was. Evette asks Cindy the same question and she reveals that her goal is to make sure her kid gets treated as normal.

They return to the story.

Cindy puts a call through to Reggie, a botanist, and he’s nothing short of impressed by how healthy the leaves in Timothy’s legs are. He tries to cut them off but his clippers break apart instead.

Soon enough, Timothy is enrolled in school and Cindy packs him one heck of a bag, complete with a first aid kit and everything. She gets to work later on, and her boss, Bernice Crudstaff, rips her a new one for coming late. Just then, she gets a disturbing phone call.

At the factory, Jim’s boss, Franklin Crudstaff, is talking about laying people off when Cindy calls in the middle, asking him to get to the school quickly.

They meet Timothy in the principal’s office looking really bad. It turns out he got bullied and is refusing to give names, he even lies to his folks that it was an art project accident.

When he was getting bullied, Joni, his crush, walked in on him. They simply shared a moment as she put a cherry on his head.

Jim was also bullied when he was younger, so he’s hell-bent on handling the case on his son’s behalf. Timothy whispers the names to him and it turns out to be Mr Crudstaff’s boys.

Within the hour, they drive to the Crudstaff household and Jim comes face to face with his boss. Just like his kids, the man tries to bully Jim, so Cindy gets out of the car with Timothy and they approach the situation.

Once again, Evette interrupts the story, too eager to find out if the Crudstaff boys took responsibility.

Back to it. Bobby, Mr Crudstaff’s oldest, complains about how Timothy didn’t even cry or complain when he was getting bullied. His mom, Pixie, cuts him off, inviting Timothy to Bobby’s birthday pool bash. Unfortunately, no one ever confirmed if he could swim, and Timothy really wanted to go.

The day of the party, he climbs onto the diving board in his tube socks and sees his crush once again. Trying to impress her, he jumps into the pool, only for him to sink to the bottom like an anchor. She’s the only one who notices, seeing as the others are more concerned with singing happy birthday to Bobby.

Joni dives into the water after a moment and swims to the bottom to fetch him. First, she tries to take off his socks, and Timothy can’t let that happen, so he kicks her off and makes his way to the surface. Two of them burst out of the water, gasping for air, but Joni is mad because her nose is bleeding.

Later on, as he and his parents head home, Timothy opens up about the kick and how Joni must’ve seen his leaves. With this, his parents advise him to run in the other direction when next he sees her. He does exactly this, but there’s a twist. Joni refuses to stop chasing him.

Timothy runs like hell through the woods, ultimately running out of breath and having to stop for a break. This is when she corners him and reveals a gory scar on her right shoulder. After Timothy sees this, they practically become friends.

They go through the woods together, and even share a bike ride, which coincidentally crosses the pencil museum where his mom works. He gives Cindy a small wave and she instantly calls her husband to look outside the window, concerned about how quickly Timothy is making friends with girls.

Upon getting home, he secretly shoves one of his leaves into an envelope and tags it with Joni’s name. It’s at this moment that his folks show up to drive him to the hospital. Apparently, something terrible happened with Uncle Bub’s health, so everyone rushes to be by his side.

Emotions run high at the hospital but Uncle Bub asks for only Timothy to remain in his room. The moment everyone else leaves, they begin to joke among themselves, leaving the old timer to literally laugh out loud. It’s a beautiful thing as the others watch through the door, happy that uncle Bub got to laugh once again.

Sadly, this results in one of Timothy’s leaves withering and falling off. He shoots his dad a freaked out look when uncle Bub’s machine starts to beep randomly, and within seconds, the room is full again. This time, with more panicking people. All he does is hide his fallen leaf beneath his feet.

In a fit to help him be normal, his parents take him to see Cal, coach of the school’s soccer team, the erasers.  But the coach isn’t keen on giving him a shot. Jim and Cindy have to beg to make it happen, and when the time comes for Timothy to show what he’s got, he practically falls on his face. His second try isn’t any better but the coach decides to give him a shot anyway.

The only thing that disturbs Cindy is Joni showing up, and she brings it up while Timothy and her husband try to practice at home. She leaves it to Jim mostly, but he only brings up how he and Cindy met when they were Timothy’s age. The youngster eventually kicks the heck out of the ball and all three of them celebrate.

Things seem to be moving smoothly until Jim gets called into Franklin’s office. Sadly, he hands him a list of everyone that’s going to be laid off and instructs him to tell them. This dampens Jim’s mood for the rest of the day. Even at home during dinner, he seems the least bit interested in hearing Timothy’s jokes, so he leaves the table.

Together, Timothy and his mom take dinner to Jim and they eat on the floor, reminiscing about how they met. Jim shows his son a bunch of notebooks in which he wrote down ideas of the things he wanted to make. This prompts Timothy to ask if they can’t just create a new kind of pencil rather than downsizing the factory. He takes off after dropping this bomb and his folks don’t want to disappoint him, so they get to work on the idea. Together, they discovered they could use leaves.

Joni and Timothy continue to hang out though, creating the perfect sanctuary for themselves. Over time, Jim and Cindy produce the first prototype of their leaf pencil and then show it to a very excited Timothy.

For the umpteenth time, Evette interrupts their story, making sure they know that everything they say will be thoroughly checked out. The parents aren’t scared; they just continue telling their side of things instead.

Come Monday, it’s ‘take your kid to work’ day and Timothy starts with his mom. It happens to coincide with a celebration of Bernice, her boss, so a painting of her is commissioned. She doesn’t seem impressed by it and goes on to ask Timothy what he thinks. He’s also not impressed, so much so that he thinks he can try to do a better job than the artist.

For some reason, Bernice gives him a shot, driving away a very nervous Cindy. She sits for her portrait, and Timothy, unintimidated, takes off her glasses and her hair pin just so he can capture her true essence.

For the next couple of hours, he’s entranced, sketching the glint in her eyes and the waves in her hair. He even draws the thatch of hair on her chin. Sadly, Timothy loses another leaf, hiding it the moment his mom walks in with some tea. One look at the painting and Cindy is really impressed – that’s until she notices the thatch of hair he drew. She tries to get him to erase it, but Bernice grabs the sketch before this can happen.

She also notices the thatch and instantly calls for her other employees, wondering what else they’ve been lying to her about. Cindy takes things too far, spilling every bad thing she’s ever thought of the woman. As a result, she loses her job with very little regret.

Up next, Timothy joins his dad in the factory and gets to see how pencils are made. Inspired, Jim heads into Franklin’s office to pitch him his idea for a new pencil. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take Jim seriously, but it doesn’t stop him from leaving the prototype and proposal on his desk.

The next day, the erasers play a match but Timothy’s the waterboy. As the match progresses, big Jim shows up and his son admits to being surprised. Too bad that big Jim leaves the moment he sees Timothy handing a cup of water to the coach.

Things progress, but Cindy and Jim can’t shake this feeling that their son is hiding something from them. Moreover, they’re worried about the amount of time he’s spending with Joni. Both kids work on their sanctuary using as many leaves as Fall will provide, and then just bask in the sunlight.

That day, after they part ways, a nosy Cindy tracks Joni down to talk. The young girl doesn’t seem intimidated, no matter what Cindy says, and even agrees when she claims that she’ll never let any harm come to Timothy. As they talk, Joni walks down a crooked path, with leaves decorating the way until they arrive at their sanctuary. Bordered by a curtain of leaves, Joni steps inside to add a few things.

Cindy, on the other hand, is amazed by what Joni and her son made together and realizes in this moment that she was mistaken about her.

Evette interrupts again, this time, wanting to know what they’d do. Despite knowing that they have to impress her, the couple admits that they’d just make new mistakes.

Match day arrives again for the erasers, and once again, Timothy gets benched. His dad tries to get him in but coach Cal doesn’t want him. Jim just watches as Timothy hands his dad some water. At this point, Brenda can’t stop yapping about her kids’ achievements, so Cindy claims that Timothy is musically gifted to save face.

It turns out that Brenda hosts a family concert yearly and she invites Timothy to offer a performance. Having lied her butt off, Cindy tries to get her son out of it but he’s not worried. Instead, he checks out all the instruments before settling for the gong. He plays a tune familiar to Jim, and soon enough, he’s joined by both parents as they sing and dance in their own peculiar way.

The excitement spills into the night and they don’t fail to tell Timothy how much he rocked at the concert. After bidding him goodnight, Jim and Cindy realize that Timothy possesses all the attributes they wrote down that night. With this, Jim concludes that his boy will score the winning goal in the upcoming championship.

In his room, Timothy stares sadly at another withered leaf and hides it beneath the globe by his bed.

Come Sunday, the Erasers head to the championships against the Bone Crushers and Cindy helps her boy with the water cooler. Seeing this, big Jim tries to leave, but his son convinces him to stay. He even approaches the coach, telling him that Timothy will make all the difference in their match, but Cal still thinks he won’t survive.

Joni shows up with a placard.

Soon, the Bone Crushers equalize and time starts to run out. To make matters worse, one of the erasers gets knocked down and a tinge of excitement leaks from Jim. He keeps it under wraps until they confirm that the kid will be fine, but Cal tells the referee they’ll continue with ten players. Jim has to interfere, calling the referee aside to insist that Timothy should be allowed to play. Cal tries hard to count Timothy out but the referee overrides his authority.

Shortly after, he leads the youngster onto the field and a loud applause follows. Cal assigns a safe spot on the field to Timothy and tells him to stay put. Meanwhile, a hyped up Jim moves closer to his father, yelling happily as Cindy tells her sister that Timothy’s going to score the winning goal.

Imagine their disappointment when they notice he’s standing still as the game goes on. Even Joni has this wary look on her face. His dad interferes again, but it becomes a battle as he tells Timothy to move and coach Cal tells him to stay. Spoiler alert, he stays.

Soon, the sun peers out of the clouds and Timothy can’t help but spread his arms to absorb it. His parents try to get him to knock it out, but he takes his time. Shortly after, he sees Joni with a placard cheering him on and this gives him the motivation he needs to grab the ball. Timothy begins to weave his way through the field, using a combination of clever footwork and sidesteps, and everyone who didn’t believe in him is baffled. Cindy rubs it in Brenda’s face, but not as much as Jim rubs it in his father’s.

With a few seconds left on the clock, Timothy continues to weave his way through the other players, and when the time comes, kicks such an amazing shot. The goalkeeper gets a run for his money as the ball flies into the net, but sadly, Timothy had scored a goal against his own team.

Excitement quickly turns to disappointment. Heads bow, people leave angrily, and Timothy just stands there, oblivious to how much damage he has done. As they get home, he heads straight for his room where he retrieves another withered leaf from his socks. Outside his door, Jim and Cindy fight about who’s a worse parent.

Things get heated when Cindy tells her husband that he’s worse than his father. They take the fight into the kitchen and there’s slamming of the counter and everything. Tired, Timothy steps out and finds their front porch filled with fallen leaves. He kicks at them as he wishes his parents would stop fighting, but they don’t.

He joins them in the kitchen just as they realize how terrible they both were on the field, but he’d like to tell them something very important.

At this moment, Evette stops the couple, pointing at the wall clock as she indicates that their time is up. Jim respects her decision, but refuses to leave, so Evette lets them continue their tale.

Consequently, the Erasers have an informal dinner and everyone shows up with their parents, Jim and Cindy included. For the first time, Timothy officially introduces Joni to his parents, and this time, she exposes the scar on her shoulder, unafraid of what people will think.

He introduces her as the coolest girl in the world and then leaves with her. His folks let them be for a moment before realizing that it’s dark out and they’re minors.

Outside, Joni and Timothy talk and he reveals some heartbreaking news to her – news he couldn’t bring himself to tell his parents. By the time they come out, they find Joni crying and don’t know what to make of the situation. Timothy begins to walk towards them, but Joni runs up to him and they hug like it’s the last time she’ll ever see him.

He then walks up to his folks, only to admit that he loves Joni. Jim asks why it seems like he broke up with her, and Timothy explains that he let her go. He goes on to accuse them of not getting it.

In truth, they don’t.

There’s civil unrest at the town meeting, with people yelling and complaining about the rumors of the factory shutting down. Just when they’d given up hope, Mr Joseph Crudstaff, the CEO, announces the commencement of the new leaf pencil. The crowd goes wild upon hearing this, only for Joseph to announce how proud he is of his son for inventing something so revolutionary.

Almost immediately, Timothy walks up to the mic, arriving at it the same moment Franklin gets on stage. He makes it clear that his parents came up with the idea but Franklin tries to discredit him by bringing up the championships. Reflexively, Jim and his wife come to their son’s rescue, and Jim threatens his boss for picking on Timothy. It’s at this moment that Big Jim offers his support.

Bernice, who’s been silent the whole time, gets up, grabs the mic, and asks Franklin to explain how he came up with the leaf pencil idea. He flops spectacularly, so Bernice directs the same question to the Green family.

Cindy takes point this time, explaining how leaves became a big part of their lives since Timothy came. She’s asked why, and when she’s unable to respond, Timothy announces that he has leaves on his legs. People practically laugh at them, finding it hard to believe, but Reggie, the botanist, stands up to corroborate their story.

There’s still disbelief among the crowd and Bernice would like some evidence. With this in mind, Cindy asks her son not to feel any pressure, but Timothy thinks it’s time. He gets on stage, lifts one pants leg to reveal nothing, and then the other to reveal a single browning leaf.

Bernice finds this fascinating and uses it as motivation to get everyone back to work. Immediately, Jim grabs his son and then his wife, and they rush out together. On the car ride home, they question Timothy about his leaves, but he refuses to say anything tangible.

They get home soon enough, and just like the night they found him, a strong wind begins to blow. Jim and Cindy try to question Timothy once again, but he just insists that they all head inside, and they concur. They’ve barely stepped into the living room when Timothy admits that he didn’t tell them anything because there’s nothing they could have done.

Sadness creeps into their eyes as he continues, explaining how he’ll cease to exist once all his leaves fall off. Jim would like to know how long they have left, but Timothy just ruffles his trousers to let the last leaf fall out.

They squat to his eye level instantly, begging him not to leave and explaining that they’ve just started to understand parenting. He pulls them in for a hug, urging them never to give up. With this, a loud clap of thunder fills the air and all the lights go out. Neither Jim nor Cindy can feel their son anymore and panic mixes in with their sadness.

Crying profusely, Jim fishes out a flashlight, and they head to the garden, digging with their bare hands in the pouring rain. They dig and dig until they come upon the small box, completely intact, but this only pushes the couple to more tears.

Having rounded up their story, Evette wonders what was inside the box. Quietly, Cindy retrieves her purse, pulls out the box, and hands the letter inside to her. Evette and her aide then check it out in silence and return it moments later, claiming that they’ve seen all they need to.

Cindy expected more, but before she can speak, both social workers leave the room.

In the letter, Timothy explains how he gave all his leaves away; one to his aunt Brenda attached to a duck whistle; one to uncle Bub, placed in his pocket at his funeral; one to Bernice Crudstaff after her sketch;  one to coach Cal, attached to their second place trophy; one to Reggie just because he liked them; one to grandpa Jim attached to a picture of him and his son.

Lastly, Joni, his one true love: she got two leaves and fashioned them into the most beautiful earrings. Timothy believed his parents to be the best in the world, and the folks at the adoption agency believe it too.

Some time after their oral interview, Evette shows up at the Green household with a little girl named Lily. Jim and Cindy try to contain their joy, and share looks of approval with Evette as they welcome the little girl. Together, the new family walks into the warmth of their home.

Timothy, selfless as he was, changed the lives of everyone around him. His positive outlook on life did that and he left his parents better people because of it. Sometimes, when you lose something, you gain something else of greater value.

The Odd Life Of Timothy Green 2012 .