Rats Saw God tells the story of Steve York, a National Merit finalist who is also a habitual dope smoker ("stoner"). He is failing senior English and has a rash of run-ins with school authorities. His guidance counselor Mr. DeMouy gives him the opportunity to avoid summer school by writing one hundred pages about any subject. After several false starts, the writing project (which consumes half of the novel) takes off as a diary. Steve writes about his early highschool years mainly spent near Houston, Texas living with his father. Steve always refers to his father as "the astronaut." Their relationship is strained, at best. The process of writing his story for Mr. DeMouy provides Steve with the maturity to tackle college life. Steve is floating on the outside of the school when he decides to form his own club for other outsiders. Around the same time, he falls deeply in love with a young woman named Dub and the club falls under the guidance of an English teacher, Mr. Waters. Dub and Mr. Waters betray Steve and this serves as the catalyst transforming Steve from a potential college scholarship recipient to full-time stoner.