For 12-year-old Alex of Sioux City, Iowa, the slurs, curses and threats begin before he even boards the school bus. A sweet natured kid just starting middle-school and wanting more than anything to fit it, Alex assures his worried parents that the kids who taunt and hit him are only messing with him. But bullying has trailed Alex through life like a shadow, and as his seventh grade year unfolds, the bullying only escalates.