John Coogan—known as “Crash”—grows up frustrated by absentee parents and converts his anger to cruelty, destroying things his parents own and tormenting kids who can’t fight back. He’s frustrated, though, by Penn Webb, the dorky boy down the street who just doesn’t get it when Crash makes fun of him. Penn sincerely likes Crash; this drives Crash crazy, and it becomes one of the biggest challenges of his young life. Crash grows into a large boy in middle school, where he breaks the school record for touchdowns. With success, his anger becomes arrogance, and, at a school dance, he tries to force Jane Forbes to dance with him and knocks down Penn when he dances with her.

Crash’s aggression hurts the one person in the world whom he really loves, his grandfather, Scooter. Crash tackles him hard during a family football game, and three weeks later, Scooter is in the hospital with a massive stroke. The sudden loss forces Crash to reevaluate his behavior and attitudes. He rejects his and friend Mike’s bullying of Penn. Quietly, he supports Abby’s backyard nature project, and he lets Penn win the qualifying race for the Penn Relays.