Tom navigates the daily difficulties of a school filled with cruel peers and uncaring administrators, attempts to start a rock and roll band with his only close friend, negotiates the complexities of relating to girls, tries to piece together information about his deceased father through clues found in old novels, and evolves his relationship with his mother, stepfather, and sister.

The novel was named one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association in 2007, and the filmmaking option was picked up by Gary Sanchez Productions.

Tom Henderson begins his sophomore year at Hillmont High School, which he describes as laughably dumbed-down and senselessly brutal, with rampant bullying by the "psychotic normal" students.

Tom is derisively nicknamed "Chi-Mo", originating from an aptitude test indicating a possible career in the clergy, which his classmates associated with child molestation.

His father Charles, a police detective, died six years prior in what was ruled a hit and run collision, though Tom has been given vague and contradictory details about the incident by his mother.

He finds a collection of his father's books from the 1960s, including The Catcher in the Rye, a novel Tom particularly disdains, comparing its popularity among baby boomers to a cult.

Sam eventually reveals that the girls were playing a game called "Dud Chart" in which they earned points by flirting and making out with unpopular boys, and the popular Celeste Fletcher hired him as a consultant.

He learns that the Chi-Mos have become rather famous at school and that Mr. Teone has disappeared, the police having found evidence that he was running a child pornography operation involving students over the past decade.