After almost having his lights punched out by Michael Worthington, third-grader Gregory Browning misses the bus, changes into clean pants and imposes on his mom for a ride to school. He finds the car radio's report of Julie Creggan's accident confusing but suspicious. At school he meets up with Kev and Nick, his two best friends. He lives for their approval. So, he panics when he's lumped in with the "United Nations' kids" for a game of Scrabble led by high school Senior Mentor Danny Woods. At least Gregory will win because he always beats his parents. But Danny keeps changing the rules, setting Gregory off-balance, and sending him and the game in an unexpected direction.