Zane, a sixth-grader who is deaf and wears hearing aids, is new to Redbird, an inner-city grade school in a poor working-class neighborhood called The Birds. From the beginning, Zane senses that something at the school is not quite right; something evil there is toying with him. Zane’s attachment to a kindergartner leads to a final decision that Zane must make in his battle against the school — and the battle for his own sanity and life.