The following version of this book was used to create the study guide: Arnold, David. The Kids of Appetite. Speak, 2017.

Sixteen-year-old Vic, short for Victor Benucci III, is being interrogated by Sergeant Mendes at the Hackensack Police Station in New Jersey. Earlier that day, Vic and another girl his age, Madeline Falco, came to the police station with the prime suspect in a murder case. Vic tells Mendes that his friend, Baz, is no murderer. Mendes asks him to tell his story. We now flashback to eight days earlier. Vic is standing at the edge of the pier in his small town in New Jersey, listening to music, missing his dad. His dad passed away two years ago from cancer. Vic has a rare neurological disorder called Moebius syndrome, that causes facial paralysis. His dad was one of the few people who could make him feel better about having Moebius. Vic is supposed to buy meat from the deli for dinner, but he gets distracted by a group of kids at the deli and follows them into a grocery store. One of the kids, a blonde girl, is standing apart from the others and reading a book.

The narrative switches to the perspective of the blonde girl, Mad, who is reading from The Outsiders. She is drawn to Vic. Later, Vic goes home to find his mom's boyfriend is over for dinner. When Frank proposes to Vic's mom, Vic starts screaming. He runs from the house with his dad's urn in his backpack. Vic heads to the riverfront, where he runs into Mad. He tells Mad he cannot go back home, so she takes him to the deli, where he can stay for the night. Vic looks inside the urn and finds a letter. It's a letter from his dad to his mom, asking her to take his ashes to five places. Vic knows what must be done. He must take his father's ashes to all these places. In the morning, Vic meets the other kids in Mad's friend group: Coco, Nzuzi, and the leader, Baz. They offer to help solve Vics father’s wish-list. Baz tells Vic that the first place on his dad's list is a tattoo shop. They go there. Nzuzi solves Vic's dad's clue and Vic paints some of his dad's ashes onto the tattoo shop signpost. The next day, they all take a bus ride to the Palisades. Vic deposits the ashes into the river, as part of the second clue. That night, Mad leaves the greenhouse without saying goodbye.

The next night, Mad returns and wakes Vic up. She takes him to his grandparents' old house. They solve the third clue, which turns out to be referring to a pack of cigarettes stashed away in the brick chimney on the roof of Vic's grandparents' old house. The next day, Coco suggests they go to the place where Vic's parents got married. They all go to the church. Mad and Vic go to the top of the church and ring the old iron bell. While it is ringing, they have their first kiss. When they go back down, they meet Father Raines. He tells them there is a wishing well out in the back. Vic drops some of his father's ashes through a crack in the frozen wishing well. Now he has done four of the five places on his dad's list. Back at the greenhouse, Vic is asleep when he hears Mad leaving. He follows her to a house. She goes inside, where she watches television with an old woman. A drunk man enters and smashes a rifle through the TV, shattering it. Vic runs from the house, terrified.

Mad has been gone from the greenhouse for two days. Vic is worried about her. Vic tells Baz about what he saw before. Later that night, they go to the house to check on Mad. Everything looks okay. They leave. Baz, who was wearing his Thunder cap, lost it somewhere outside. Later that night, Vic secretly returns to the house. He finds Baz's hat and puts it on. He hears Mad whimpering. He goes inside the house. He sees Mad's uncle sitting on her, beating her up. Vic goes into a nearby room, where there is a rifle collection. He removes one of the rifles from the wall and sneaks up behind Mad's uncle. He lifts the rifle and slams it down on Mad's uncle's head, knocking him out. Mad and Vic go into Mad's bedroom and barricade the door. Mad goes into the bathroom. Mad hears a loud banging noise. She hurries out to see that her uncle is now conscious and holding Vic in a chokehold. Suddenly, Nzuzi appears and punches Mad's uncle. He frees Vic and slaps Mad's uncle. Mad's uncle falls. They step into the hallway to see he has been killed. Mad's grandmother, Jamma, has impaled his skull with a pair of deer antlers.

Back in the police station, Mad and Vic finish their stories. It is after 8 pm; their plan was successful. Jamma is on her way to Florida on Father Raines' church mission bus with Nzuzi and Coco. Having told their stories to the police, Mad and Vic wait outside the police station for Vic's mom's boyfriend to pick them up. When he arrives, Frank says he does not know where Vic's mom is. Vic has an idea. He realizes that she must be waiting for him at the last place on the list, Rockefeller Center. Frank drives Mad and Vic to New York City. At the top of the Rockefeller Center, a little kid stares at Vic and asks what is "wrong" with his face; Vic finds he has the courage to respond to the little kid. Mad is proud of Vic. Vic takes the escalator up, where he finds his mom. They have a heartfelt reunion. Vic doesn't know what his future has in store, but he knows now that anything is possible. He lets go of his father's ashes at the top of the skyscraper and finds he feels at peace.