Ben Booker is a seventeen-year-old senior in high school living in the northwest panhandle of Texas. After returning home from a summer job in southwest Texas, he is informed that he and his mother will be relocating to the state of Illinois so Ben can begin to cultivate a relationship with his dying father. Upon arriving in the state of Illinois, he is overcome with culture shock. He is ushered into manhood through a series of unfortunate events with catastrophic and life-altering experiences.