Suddenly, a fictitious newspaper headline flashes before his eyes: "Parents kill local moron over spilled milk: nobody cries." Meet Alan Deweyn, another boy in a long list of boys who doesn't know quite what to do with his life. Quiet and introverted by nature, Alan feels everything is about to change the first time he awkwardly catches a glimpse of Janie, the new girl at school, in his town's local library.