Benjamin arrives with his parents for a tour of Roaring Orchards, a therapeutic boarding school tucked away in upstate New York. Suddenly, his parents are gone and Benjamin learns that he is there to stay. Sixteen-years-old and with two failed suicides to his name, Benjamin must navigate his way through a new world of 'popped privileges,' 'candor meetings,' 'morning meds,' and 'cartoon brunches'—all run by adults who have yet to really come of age themselves. The only person who comprehends the school's many rules and rituals is Aubrey, the founder and headmaster. Fragile, brilliant, and prone to rage, he is as likely to use his authority to reward students as to punish them. But when Aubrey falls ill, life at the school begins to unravel.

Benjamin has no one to rely on but the other students, especially Tidbit, an intriguing but untrustworthy girl with a 'self-afflicting personality.' More and more, Benjamin thinks about running away from Roaring Orchards—but he feels an equal need to know just what it is he would be leaving behind.