The book continues after the ending of the previous book,"A Child Called It". David Pelzer is taken into foster care at 12 years old, after being tormented and abused for years by his mother, Catherine Pelzer. The book starts out with David Pelzer, 9 years old, running away from his home in Daly City, California. He ends up in a bar, getting cared for by some of the patrons. One of them calls the police, bringing David home to his abusive mother. David's teachers eventually contact the authorities, causing David to be put together with a social services worker named Ms. Gold. Before the trial of whether or not to permanently remove him from his mother's custody, David becomes confused about whether he may have deserved the treatment his mother gave him. Ms. Gold, on the other hand, assures him it had nothing to do with him, and that his mother is sick.
After the trial, he is put into a home for the mentally challenged under the care of a woman he calls Aunt Mary. He does not fit in with the other children, he is quite active and disruptive due to being cut off from normal household living and behavior for so long. He soon receives a visit from his mother and brother. His mother asks how David was doing, calling him "The Boy", shocking Aunt Mary. While Aunt Mary answered a short phone call, his mother swears to David that she will get him back. His brother brought back David's bike, which was mistreated and broken. He is so distraught by the bike's condition that he cried for hours. He decides to fix the bike on his own. One day, he decides to ride his bike and go down his old road. His family sees him riding on the road, and contacts his foster family. He is punished, but it is nothing compared to his former treatment.
Later in the book, David meets a person who he thinks is his friend, until he starts using him to do illegal things. One of those times is when they plan to set one of his teacher's classroom on fire. The fire gets out of control, and David tries to stop it. His "friend" later tells the teacher that it was all David. As a result he is removed from his foster home, and sent to Juvenille Hill. He eventually is released, and is placed in multiple foster homes across California.
In his sophomore year of high school, he is placed into a class for slow learners. He then decides that he is more interested in earning money than school, because he will be out of foster care in less than a year. When he is out of foster care, he enlists in the U.S Air Force. Surprisingly, his own mother knew the news and she congratulated him at his Air Force graduation. As he talked to his mother and began to cry, he then hopes that his mother will say the three special words that he has always wanted her to say. "I love you." This phrase was touching and poignant for David, as he has longed for these three words for years. He believes that he wanted to see his mother but that was also not a good idea. He soon realizes that the mother's love that he has always been searching for was in the arms of his foster mother, Alice. The story ends with him beginning his career in the U.S. Air Force.
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