Marcus was a twelve-year old boy who struggled at school as a result of his mother, who bought him clothes that were not out of fashion. Marcus’s mother was known however to be divorced and depressed. Marcus was annoyed as he was never told why his mother was upset. The third main character of the story, Will (a 36-year old man) was out of touch as he was very rich because his father wrote a famous song and he consequently received royalty payments.

Will was wanted a relationship but not a wife. Marcus went for a picnic with a friend of his mother’s, called Susie, who became Will’s girlfriend.  When Marcus went home, his mother was lying on the floor. Susie called the ambulance and the doctors said that she tried to commit suicide. Marcus had met Will at the picnic where he had gone with Susie and, one day after school, he followed Will to his flat.

Will allows Marcus into his home and they had dinner together. Afterwards, Will decided to go shopping with Marcus. Will buys him new trainers and the next day at school they were stolen. Marcus went to talk to the head teacher and saw a girl who was known for not observing any rules in school. Her name was Ellie. After some time, Marcus and Ellie became close friends.

At Christmas time, Marcus’s father (Clive) came to spend time with him. After Christmas, Will met a girl who had a son called Ali and Marcus met him also, however Ali was very impolite. After some time, Marcus’s father broke his arm and asked Marcus if he wanted to come and stay with him and Marcus invited Ellie to accompany him. On the train, Ellie heard the news about her favourite singer’s death and got drunk. Marcus attempted to stop her, but she was already drunk. After that, when all the problems in Marcus’s life were solved, Marcus became a normal 12-year old boy.