A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, the counselors, and with the retired war colonel in charge.

Shattering all expectations of the American indie coming-of-age genre, Coldwater tackles the challenging subjects of toxic masculinity and adolescence, whilst doubling as a thriller to offer a complex and incisive critique of the juvenile detention (and by extension, the prison and military) system.