It’s crazy the lengths some kids will go to in order to be popular. In 1984, one awkward and economically disadvantaged teen actually got caught up in a international drug trafficking ring in hopes of fitting in at an elite boarding school he was attending on scholarship. His wild but true story is now the subject of The Preppie Connection. Directed by Joseph Castelo (Death Metal Angola), the film stars Thomas Mann (Me, Earl and the Dying Girl) and Lucy Fry (11.22.63) and arrives in theaters in NYC and VOD on March 18. You can check out the trailer below.

The story the film is based on involved a student at Choate Rosemary Hall School. The boy in question was arrested in 1984 for attempting to smuggle $300,000 worth of cocaine into the country. With inflation, that would be the equivalent to $700,000 today.

Having its world premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2015, The Preppie Connection casts Mann as Toby, the social outcast who figures out drugs are his entry point to the cool kids, especially his crush Alex (Fry).

The Preppie Connection is co-written by Castelo and Ashley Rudden and features music by Sam Bisbee. Additional cast includes Logan Huffman, Same Page, Bill Sage, Amy Hargreaves, Jessica Rothe, Robert Gorrie, and Hemky Madera. The Preppie Connection is an IFC Films release.