No Boundaries

Alex Jefferson is fed up with rules - bedtime, chores, curfews - and tells Whit that all he needs is total freedom. So Whit sends him into the Room of Consequence, where his parents suddenly vow to say yes to everything. At first it's paradise: seventeen candy bars, all-night video games, a new skateboard, his own TV. But soon Alex is sleeping through Eugene's class, mouthing off to the principal, and stealing spray paint while his best friend David begs him to stop. When David ends their friendship, Alex takes his mother's car without asking... and wakes in a hospital to news too terrible to bear. Whit pulls him out just in time, and that night Alex hears his dad's "no" for what it really is - proof that he's loved.

Found on In Your Wildest Dreams Album 34 · 17 episodes

The run See every episode

0442a Two Roads Two boys from the same neighborhood face the same spilled-candy temptation in a school cafeteria - and Whit follows the very different roads their choices set them on.

0442b Sticks and Stones When a former classmate he once tormented returns to Odyssey as a potential business rival, Bart Rathbone launches a scheme to drive him out of town before old scores can be settled.

0443 Changing Rodney A gifted young student sets out to reform the school bully with relentless kindness - and learns that changing a heart is harder than acing any test.

0444a Career Moves A middle schooler's career-fair internship at the Electric Palace teaches him Bart Rathbone's sales tricks - until a customer's return puts his conscience to the test.

0444b The Bad Guy When a notorious troublemaker from his past arrives in Odyssey claiming to be a changed man, a skeptical Nick Mulligan sets out to prove the transformation is too good to be true.

0444c Bethany's Flood When a flooded bathroom coincides with the story of Noah's ark, young Bethany's imagination sets sail on a wildly mixed-up voyage that teaches her about trust and obedience.

0445 No Boundaries Tired of his parents' rules, a boy gets the chance to experience a life with no limits at all - and learns what freedom without boundaries really costs.

0446a A Matter of Manners When two boys banished from Whit's End for rudeness reinvent themselves as the school's manners experts, their newfound politeness becomes a weapon nobody can defend against.

0446b The Seven Deadly Dwarves A little girl's mixed-up Sunday school lesson becomes a fairy-tale dream in which Princess Snow DeWhite, misled by a talking mirror, flees her father's hardware-store kingdom and falls in with seven dwarves named for the deadly sins.

0447 Potlucks & Poetry A teenage poet's secret reading collides with a church potluck as three generations of her family scheme to avoid embarrassing - and being embarrassed by - each other.

0448 Mandy's Debut A young playwright's opening night at Whit's End puts two comedies of guilt and neglected chores on stage - with her friends cast as themselves.

1 of 2 0449 The Big Deal When her parents forbid her from taking the theater role of a lifetime, Aubrey travels through the Imagination Station to the wilderness of a fearless prophet, hoping to learn how to stand up to them.

2 of 2 0450 The Big Deal A young girl caught up in the story of an imprisoned prophet risks everything to win his freedom from a king swayed by pleasure and a queen bent on revenge.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 7 more roles

7 supporting roles

David Straussberg Jeff Ellison Officer Patrick O'Ryan Will Ryan Teacher Will Ryan Rachel Jefferson Actor Unknown Principal Johnson Phil Lollar Mr. Jefferson Matt Hurwitz Store Manager Will Ryan

Made by

Chris Anthony Host John Fornof Writer Phil Lollar Director · Producer Jonathan Crowe Sound Designer · Producer Al Janssen Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

Alex Jefferson complains to Whit that his parents never let him do what his friends do. Their limits on bedtime, movies, and parties make him feel like a hermit, and he believes that all he needs is more freedom. Whit asks whether Alex could handle a life without any rules, then sends him into the Room of Consequence to discover what such a life might become.

Inside the simulation, Alex's parents call him downstairs after bedtime. They have begun following a parenting book called Dare to Let Go, which teaches that rules, curfews, and chores prevent children from becoming their true selves. From now on, they plan to explain basic right and wrong but leave every decision to Alex.

Alex immediately tests his new freedom by eating as many candy bars as he wants and staying up late on a school night. Seventeen candy bars leave him sick the next morning, but his parents are delighted because the unpleasant result has supposedly taught him more than a rule could. They continue following the book and give him a skateboard, a cell phone, his own television, cable service, and a new video-game system. Their new principle is to say yes whenever possible.

After spending the night with his games, Alex sleeps through Eugene's classroom lecture. When Eugene wakes him and asks him to read, Alex openly insults both the lesson and the class. He lands in Principal Johnson's office, where he lounges with his feet on the desk and treats the principal like a friend. The Jeffersons defend the behavior because they believe Alex must be allowed to make bad choices before he can learn from their consequences.

Knowing his parents will support him even against the school, Alex begins to think that nothing can stop him. He boasts to David Straussberg about all the things his parents have bought and suggests that their generosity proves he is especially lovable. Then he invites David to create their own fun at a hardware store.

Alex steals cans of spray paint while David protests. A security camera exposes them, but they escape from the store manager and use the paint to cover a wall in an alley. David is horrified by the theft and vandalism. When Alex proposes attacking the store in revenge for being called a hoodlum, David threatens to warn the manager and call the police.

David tells Alex that he has changed so completely that they can no longer be friends. Alex is hurt but refuses to admit it, insisting that he can have fun alone. He takes his mother's car without permission. His father calls and tries to bring him home through an agreement instead of a command, but Alex twists the arrangement and continues driving because he is not wearing a watch.

Ignoring the speed limit, Alex loses control of the car and wakes in a hospital. His spine has been injured, and he cannot move his legs. Worse, he has struck a mother and child. The mother is in critical condition, and the boy - David - has died. Alex turns on his parents, demanding to know why they allowed him to drive and accusing them of not caring enough to stop him.

As the horror overwhelms him, Alex begs to escape from consequences that were never mentioned in the parenting book. Whit ends the simulation and brings him safely back to the Room of Consequence. David is alive, Alex is uninjured, and none of the terrible events has truly happened.

Whit explains that parental limits are not meant to ruin Alex's life. His mother and father say no because they love him and want to protect and guide him. They will give him greater freedom as he grows, but loving parents do not abandon a child to choices he is not ready to make - especially choices that can harm other people.

That night, Alex asks his parents whether he may stay up late. When his father refuses because it is a school night, Alex joyfully thanks both parents and calls them the greatest. They do not understand his unusual gratitude, but Alex now hears their rule as proof that he is loved.