We meet seventeen-year-old Tyler Miller on a hot summer day as he works on his high school roof with the school’s maintenance crew. We soon learn that Tyler is here because of the so-called “Foul Deed” he committed during the last school year, involving spray-painting misspelled insults on school property. As part of his punishment, he must complete several hours of community service and stay out of trouble. From the roof, Tyler looks down to the high school parking lot where he sees several girls participating in a car wash. One of them is Bethany Milbury, one of the prettiest and most popular girls in school. The maintenance crew leer at the young girls until Tyler’s father, Bill, pulls up in his Mercedes. 

Tyler gets into his father’s car just as his father takes a work-related call. His mother, Linda, is also in the car; the couple has just come from their couples-therapy session. Tyler thinks to himself, “[m]eet my mother: pet photographer, cake baker, nice lady who smells faintly of gin” (6). Tyler’s mother waves to Bethany, who comes over to the car and greets Tyler.