Paddy Clarke an Irish kid living in the 1960's enjoys running around the streets of Barrytown with his friends. They start fires, write their names in wet cement, bother older women, and enjoy many other troubling things.
Paddy talks about staying in his best friend, Kevin's good side, because he is the leader of their friend group. If you're in Kevin's bad side, he whips you. Paddy talks about how he takes the need to mock people on his brother, Sinbad, when there isn't someone else to bother.
One day, Kevin is harassing some boys, when Paddy notices his parents arguing, and at first, he thought he could fix their problems. So, Paddy began applying himself in school work so that he could stay in the kitchen, studying with his parents. He thought that his presence between his parents would end fighting.
However, that didn't stop the fighting, so Paddy began to seek his brother for emotional support. However, Sinbad chooses to admit that they're fighting and there's nothing that he could do. After this, Paddy losses interest in bullying and being Kevin's friend, so he stayed home.
One day, Kevin and Paddy had a fight after school/ In this moment, Paddy realizes that life changes and that he was not going to be the same person he was some time ago. After the fight, he lost his best friend and is the one being bullied. Paddy gets better grades in class and is moved to the "smart" row of the classroom.
In his home, Paddy stays awake all night, listening at his parent's bedroom door, hoping that the fighting ends. But one night, he realized that it was not worth it, when he witnessed his father hitting his mother.
