The story tells of a 12-year-old boy named Paul Hasleman, who finds it increasingly difficult to pay attention to his classwork while growing more distant from his family.
[4] The progressive withdrawal from reality and social relationships, as well as preoccupation with idiosyncratically meaningful ideas could be interpreted as characteristic of schizophrenia.
It was dramatized as an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, also directed by Kearney, starring Radames Pera and narrated by Orson Welles.
The story was the inspiration for an instrumental song of the same name by guitarist Jim Matheos on his first solo album, First Impressions.
The story inspired the song "Silent Snow" by musician Scott Appel on his album Nine of Swords.