Ethan McRae, a volatile and gifted high school outcast is failing his classes at North Valley High. His abilities and talents conflict with the impersonal, administrative structure -- and through his difficulties we glimpse the general failure of education. Ethan becomes obsessed with the sexy sister of Jesse Quinn, a flamboyant and outspoken critic of the system. Finding in Ethan a kindred spirit in danger of suffocation, Jesse enlightens Ethan to the truth of the public schools rapidly increasing disintegration through corporate and government greed. As the duo of Ethan and Jesse take a stand to salvage what little quality remains in the system, vicious rumors, sexual pressures, sexual confusions, alcohol and drug abuse compound with the pairs doubts and shortcomings, spiraling them further into isolation and hopelessness. This unusual novel starkly documents the destructive effect of the No Child Left Behind program on talented and creative American students.