A teenager in the winter term of his freshman year in high school, Philip Malloy is a talented runner with a penchant for cracking jokes at inappropriate times. Philip’s major focus during his freshman year is to make the track team, a goal that leads him to engage in manipulation and dishonesty as he attempts to escape the consequences of his poor grades in Ms. Narwin’s English class.

Over the course of the novel, Philip goes from being a relatively popular, confident teen known for his jokes to an emotional person who grows increasingly uncomfortable with the consequences of his actions. Philip also struggles with the expectations of his father, who frequently tells him about his own glory days as a runner. Philip keeps his secrets and struggles to himself, confiding only in his diary as his troubles spin out of control.

A veteran English teacher whose only family is a sister in Florida, Margaret Narwin is passionate about her subject area and increasingly frustrated as she attempts to manage her classroom and relations with parents. Ms. Narwin is open to change—she applies for professional development funds to take a graduate class in contemporary teaching methods—and her students see her as a fair teacher despite her somewhat strict approach to classroom discipline.