A coming-of-age tale, that finds a young man, Victor (Mark L. Young), growing up on a Utopian commune faced with the challenge to either submit to his community's ideals or to escape. Victor's mother (Andie MacDowell) funds the collective where guru Insley (Rutger Hauer) lectures a lifestyle of free love and out-of-body meditations. Spurred by the sudden reappearance of his childhood love Becky (Hanna Hall), Victor creates a desperate plot to save them both and escape the polygamous cult. One part WOODSTOCK, one part LORD OF THE FLIES, director Adam Sherman's semi-autobiographical film, HAPPINESS RUNS, is a cautionary tale about freeing yourself of social constrictions.