Tom Willard is a cricket-crazy eleven-year-old who lives in Wellington with solo dad, Dave, and Archie the dog. He dreams of playing at the fabled Basin Reserve and making the junior rep cricket squad, but his prized cricket bat has disappeared and he's got to face Menace Mitchell, "the bowler from hell". Just when Tom thinks things couldn't get any worse, his dad's dog-hating girlfriend moves in. But then he meets Izzy, a star all-rounder, and things start to look up – or do they?