When Philip Malloy starts humming along to his school's daily playing of the Star Spangled Banner, his insistence on continuing to do so even after his teacher, Miss Margaret Narwin, asks him to stop sets in motion a chain of events that will soon ripple out beyond anything Phil or Miss Narwin could have imagined. Phil's friends, his teachers, and the school administration are soon swept up in the controversy . . . and that's just the beginning!