This paper focuses on a series of adolescent suicides in a rural community in Western Canada between December 1989 & June 1990. Risk factors & recent epidemiological data on cluster suicide are reviewed. The circumstances of the 5 suicides are then discussed, & the question of whether or not this was a cluster suicide is considered. This article supports the view that suicide is an abnormal response to stress or loss & emphasizes the role of genetic psychophysiological predisposition. (21 refs.)