Guantanamo Boy is a fictional account of a fifteen year old young man named Khalid who lives with his family in Manchester, England. His interests include hanging out with his mates, playing football, and playing a myriad of games on line with his cousin Tariq and others. His parents are not rigid Muslims, but respect and discipline are expected. It is just before Easter vacation when Khalid learns of his grandmothers' death and the intention his parents have of taking their family to visit relatives in Pakistan during the upcoming break.

Within days of their arrival, his father disappears and Khalid, terrified that some misfortune has befallen him, goes out in search. Though he is unsuccessful, Khalid is inadvertently put on a path that will lead to his own abduction from his Auntie's home. While the rest of the family sleeps, he is taken by masked men who are carrying guns. The men bind his hands and feet and tape his mouth before dragging him out and throwing him into a vehicle. He is driven to an unknown location where his nightmare is unending.

During the next two years, not knowing whether his father is alive or dead, Khalid is subjected to the kind of torture that many adult men could not survive. He is taken to different holding facilities where he is relentlessly badgered and abused until he finally signs a printed confession to stop his captors from water boarding him any further. This bogus confession is used as a reason to send him to Guantanamo Bay where he will remain until shortly after his seventeenth birthday.

Before his abduction, Khalid is a young man whose main interests are football, video games, and hanging out with his mates. He is stunned to discover that a game his cousin Tariq invents called Bomber One is largely responsible for his incarceration. Filled with hatred, he vows revenge. Time passes, and his captors continue to torture him using random methods. They try to get him to confirm his original confession or elaborate on details of his plans to bomb certain targets. He goes for periods without food and water, alternating cold and heat, and all forms of dehumanizing treatment designed to force him to reveal his co-conspirators. He suffers a gradual emotional and mental decline. He begins to see things that aren't there and spends more and more time living in his mind and memories. He counts the time between any routines such as trips from the barber to the showers to meal times. When a lawyer finally shows up and introduces himself, Khalid can scarcely believe it is actually happening. From that time forward, his treatment by the guards changes. The conditions of his incarceration change and begin to improve in small but meaningful ways. By the time Khalid is actually released, he is seventeen years old and emotionally fragile. His integration back into family and home life is difficult, and his views of life and the people in his life have changed dramatically.