This is the plot of the novel:-
The novel opens with Arnold's explanations that he was born with water in the brain. Arnold was left with many physical problems because of this and the surgery he underwent. He has forty-two teeth, is skinny, and has an over-sized head, hands, and feet. He also suffers from poor eyesight, experiences frequent seizures, stutters, and has a lisp. Arnold is regularly beaten up in the reservation and given nicknames as "retard" and "globe"because of his deformities. His family, is incredibly poor. This point is emphasized when Arnold's adopted dog Oscar begins to suffer from intense heat exhaustion and Arnold's father is forced to shoot him to avoid having to pay the expensive veterinary treatment necessary to save him.
Arnold has a friend Rowdy, he is the toughest kid on the rez. Rowdy's father abuses him and his mother. Despite this,he protects Arnold from some of the physical abuses. On Arnold's first day of high school, his geometry teacher, Mr. P, hands out textbooks to the students and Arnold realizes that his book has his mother's maiden name written on it. She was thirty years old when she gave birth to Arnold, thus making the textbook at least forty years older than Arnold himself. Arnold is angered and saddened by the fact that the Spokane reservation is so poor that it is unable to afford new textbooks for its high school. Arnold throws the book, which hits Mr. P's face and breaks his nose. The school subsequently suspends Arnold. During Arnold's suspension, Mr. P meets him and reveals to him his sister's dream to be a romance writer, he is not angry with him, and tells to leave this reservation.
A week into the school year, Arnold transfers to Reardan High School, a school full of rich white kids. Arnold is the only Indian at Reardan besides the team mascot. Although Arnold's mother is an ex-drunk, his father a drunk, and they are poor, they still allow him to transfer to Reardan. Despite his initial troubles adjusting to the new school, Arnold begins to enjoy Reardan, developing a crush on a white girl, Penelope, and making friends with a genius student named Gordy. Arnold tries to talk to Rowdy about his crush on Penelope, but their relationship is strained by Arnold's decision to go to Reardan. In contrast, Arnold and Penelope develop a closer relationship and even go to a dance together. Arnold makes the Reardan varsity basketball team and plays two games against his former school, Wellpinit, and specifically Rowdy. Before their first game begins, someone in the crowd hits Arnold with a quarter splitting open his forehead. Arnold gets Eugene,father's friend to give him stitches in the locker room and returns to the game. Wellpinit wins after Rowdy elbows Arnold in the head and knocks him unconscious. In their second meeting, Reardan wins with Arnold guarding Rowdy and holding him to only four points. Arnold wanted to win, but after seeing the Wellpinit players' faces after their defeat, he cried and felt ashamed of himself.
Throughout the novel, Arnold is struck by many tragedies—his grandmother is run over by a drunk driver, Gerald, while walking home from a powwow, his father's best friend Eugene is shot in the face by his friend after fighting over the last drink of alcohol, and his newlywed sister and her husband die when their mobile home is accidentally set on fire after a night of heavy drinking. In the end, Arnold and Rowdy come together while playing basketball and resolve to correspond no matter where the future takes them.
Arnold has a friend Rowdy, he is the toughest kid on the rez. Rowdy's father abuses him and his mother. Despite this,he protects Arnold from some of the physical abuses. On Arnold's first day of high school, his geometry teacher, Mr. P, hands out textbooks to the students and Arnold realizes that his book has his mother's maiden name written on it. She was thirty years old when she gave birth to Arnold, thus making the textbook at least forty years older than Arnold himself. Arnold is angered and saddened by the fact that the Spokane reservation is so poor that it is unable to afford new textbooks for its high school. Arnold throws the book, which hits Mr. P's face and breaks his nose. The school subsequently suspends Arnold. During Arnold's suspension, Mr. P meets him and reveals to him his sister's dream to be a romance writer, he is not angry with him, and tells to leave this reservation.
A week into the school year, Arnold transfers to Reardan High School, a school full of rich white kids. Arnold is the only Indian at Reardan besides the team mascot. Although Arnold's mother is an ex-drunk, his father a drunk, and they are poor, they still allow him to transfer to Reardan. Despite his initial troubles adjusting to the new school, Arnold begins to enjoy Reardan, developing a crush on a white girl, Penelope, and making friends with a genius student named Gordy. Arnold tries to talk to Rowdy about his crush on Penelope, but their relationship is strained by Arnold's decision to go to Reardan. In contrast, Arnold and Penelope develop a closer relationship and even go to a dance together. Arnold makes the Reardan varsity basketball team and plays two games against his former school, Wellpinit, and specifically Rowdy. Before their first game begins, someone in the crowd hits Arnold with a quarter splitting open his forehead. Arnold gets Eugene,father's friend to give him stitches in the locker room and returns to the game. Wellpinit wins after Rowdy elbows Arnold in the head and knocks him unconscious. In their second meeting, Reardan wins with Arnold guarding Rowdy and holding him to only four points. Arnold wanted to win, but after seeing the Wellpinit players' faces after their defeat, he cried and felt ashamed of himself.
Throughout the novel, Arnold is struck by many tragedies—his grandmother is run over by a drunk driver, Gerald, while walking home from a powwow, his father's best friend Eugene is shot in the face by his friend after fighting over the last drink of alcohol, and his newlywed sister and her husband die when their mobile home is accidentally set on fire after a night of heavy drinking. In the end, Arnold and Rowdy come together while playing basketball and resolve to correspond no matter where the future takes them.