Paul Abrams figures that 'Don't Care High' is just a strange nickname when he first arrives at Don Carey High School … until he finds that having ambition is a sure way to worry the other students, that students could spend weeks in the wrong class without having the least little clue, and that he would have to speak to a young Mafia don just to get a locker. At this school, not caring is a way of life.

Added to his recent move to New York City from a quiet part of Canada, the never-ending battle of his Aunt Nancy for truth, justice and a full-cycle dishwasher, and a parade of spicy foods that leave his stomach tied in knots, its all a bit much. But things are looking a bit better, since Paul met his new friend, Sheldon, in home room.

Unfortunately, Sheldon's way of fitting in to the Don't Care crowd is to get the most hideously dressed, least interested (or interesting) student in the whole school elected student body president (a position that has remained unfilled for some few decades), then use him to try and change the school around. Soon the Don't Care students find themselves caring in spite of themselves, and the faculty is getting really worried.

In this story, Gordon has created a few of his strangest characters, the bizarre students who wander the Don't Care halls. From the locker baron, Feldstein, to the elusive Wayne-o (who's only interest besides being called Wayne-o is seeing how little time he can actually spend outside of class, without it affecting his grades), it is the strange that populate this school. Which is scary, since Gordon says much of this story is based on a real-life school he once attended; a most frightening thought, indeed.