Davey Leary was the kind of kid who was always getting picked on, chased after, beat up and cut down. Roscoe Bigger--known to every cowering schoolyard victim as "Fang"--was the kind of kid who always picked on, chased after, beat up and cut down kids like his favorite prey, Davey. But that was then... Now, David Leary is a novelist who has been asked to teach a semester of creative writing at his former school. David returns home with high hopes of being welcomed as the local-boy-made-good. Sure enough, he's embraced by the small community, reuniting with his old gang and even rekindling his one-time crush on Victoria, now the school's sex education teacher. But when his own rebellious son, Ben, is caught bullying a sensitive kid, Kirby, David is called in Principal Kokeler's office to meet with the boys and Kirby's father--a quiet, henpecked, deferential shop teacher. After the meeting, David makes the horrible discovery that this shop teacher is, in fact, his old tormentor--the dreaded Fang.