During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, Zachary Beaver, "the fattest boy in the world." Over the course of the summer the three boys become friends and learn about life from each other.

Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.

Overweight, somewhat timid Mitch reluctantly agrees to be the sports reporter for the Lincoln High newspaper because he is determined to be a writer, but he senses a real story in Angel, a talented football player who refuses to stand out on the field--or to discuss his past.

Preferring science and reading to the sports his father wants him to play, Garvey comforts himself with food and endures bullying before joining the school chorus, where he learns how to accept himself and bond with his father.

Sixteen-year-old Willowdean wants to prove to everyone in her small Texas town that she is more than just a fat girl, so, while grappling with her feelings for a co-worker who is clearly attracted to her, Will and some other misfits prepare to compete in the beauty pageant her mother runs.

To improve his social life, a nerdish professor drinks a potion that temporarily turns him into the handsome, but obnoxious, Buddy Love.

Angie overeats to cope with the taunts of the ultra-mean girls, her attempted suicide in front of a packed gym, and the status of her captured war-hero sister, until KC Romance comes to town and sees Angie for who she really is.

Picked on, overweight genius Owen tries to invent a television that can see the past to find out what happened the day his parents were killed.

Told in separate voices, seventeen-year-old Tallulah Leddel, overweight, insecure, and angry at being ridiculed by football star Nash, and Nash, lost and bitter after an accident, unexpectedly find themselves falling in love. Overweight and insecure, Tallulah Liddell had always been defined by her appearance. The only boy who did seem to notice her was her longtime crush, Nash Lee. When he laughs at a joke aimed at Tallulah the summer before their...