Ten-year-old Tommy Shelton has difficulties functioning every day due to his imagination running wild with thoughts of things like a school staff member placing him in an electric chair, as well as spies at the drug store trying to steal a book from him, and head hunters surrounding his house when they know he is the only one home. Classmates laugh at him as he voices what he imagines himself going through, while Mrs. Blah, his fifth-grade teacher, repeatedly warns about his disruptions. An older sister, Claire, is constantly annoyed by the nonsense of his episodes. Parents and Mr. Davis, the school counselor, are unsure of what it will take to bring an end to his behavior. Salmon, who throws rocks at him, becomes a friend when he didn't know he needed one, someone who helps redirect his thoughts, leading him to a place known as the fish bowl.