A man is drawn into the mysterious world of autistic children in this drama. Matt (Matt Wolf) is a man in his mid-twenties from New York City who is looking to sort out his life after an illness. Matt takes a volunteer position at a summer camp for autistic children, and is assigned to look after two children, Rob and Wayne, who cannot speak. Matt has trouble reaching out to Rob and Wayne, and he often squabbles with Ernie (Ernie Jurez), another counselor whom Matt feels is unnecessarily harsh to the children. Matt becomes involved with Rachel (Phe Caplan), another counselor at the camp who finds the demands of the work a bit hard to deal with; Matt and Rachel soon find themselves at odds with one another when Jessica (Jessica Fuchs), one of Rachel's charges, begins to open up to Matt and attempts to bring him into her private world of cartoon characters and stuffed animals. Paradox Lake also features actor and author Jason Miller in a supporting role as one of the camp directors; it was his final screen appearance, shot shortly before Miller's death.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide