Chick is a popular fourteen-year-old who is essentially on this earth to live up to his father's impossible expectations—or, at least, that's how he feels.

This pressure is a grinding source of anxiety for him, which he copes with by making lists. He itemizes every aspect of his life, from his daily routine to the things that make him nervous. But as the pressure of school and his budding romance with his debating teammate Audrey builds, his compulsion starts to feel impossible to control—or conceal.