Conner Beckett awaits his fate as his final basketball season begins at Trotter Academy. Frustrated with his coach who refuses to announce the starting line-up until the first home game, Conner quickly snatches up a locker room bribe from classmate Darcy Davis, who has stolen the list from the coach. He is thrilled when she tells him he has made the starting line-up. But there is only one problem: Darcy, who has already gained quite a reputation at their school, is rumored to have done much more than reveal names to all the players on the list. Suddenly, the price Conner has paid to see his fate is far greater than he ever imagined. After his girlfriend, Kristen Kessler, hears the rumors about Conner and the girl with a sordid past, she immediately breaks up with him, despite Conner's pleas that none of it is true. As chaos races through the halls of Trotter Academy, the rumor mill implodes, resulting in a horrific tragedy. Plagued by confusion and grief, the students of Trotter Academy struggle to understand bullying, communication, and themselves. Dr. Suzanne Carlton arrives with her daughter, Ava, to institute a program that they hope will help the students heal-and Ava, who lost a sister to suicide, makes a unexpected connection with Conner. In this poignant story, a teenager unwittingly caught in a web of deceit must rise above his mistakes and understand the power of words.