The following version of this novel was used in the creation of this study guide: Hutchinson, Shaun David. We Are the Ants. Simon Pulse. 2016. Paperback.

After Henry’s boyfriend, Jesse commits suicide, Henry’s life begins to fall apart. Then, after being abducted by aliens (referred to as sluggers) since he was 13, Henry is given the choice to save the world or allow it to be destroyed. Henry hesitates to press the button as it is revealed that he is tormented at school and forgotten at home. This is further complicated by the fact that he has a secret and complicated relationship with his biggest bully Marcus while Henry and his former best friend Audrey are struggling after Jesse’s death. Meanwhile, Henry’s brother Charlie continues to torment him, his Nana is suffering from Alzheimer's, and his mother is slipping into her own kind of depression. During this time, Henry meets the new student Diego who has moved from Colorado for unknown reasons.

One day after Henry learns that Charlie has gotten his girlfriend pregnant, he decides to go to a party Marcus threw without him because the Sluggers have given him freedom. He goes with Audrey but spends most of his time with Diego until he accidentally refers to Henry as Space Boy, not aware that it is a painful nickname that Henry’s bullies have given him. After confronting Marcus and contemplating the end of his life, Henry is again abducted by sluggers. When he is returned, he is forced to call Marcus for a ride but is abandoned close to his house as Marcus struggles with his feelings.

Things continue to get worse for Henry as Marcus and Charlie continue to abuse him, leading Henry to believe that everyone he loves (such as his father or Jesse) has or will abandon him. However, he begins developing a friendship with Diego despite Henry’s misgivings.

One day, Henry is attacked in the showers by Marcus and his friends, covered in green paint, and left bound with tape until a teacher finds him. Humiliated, Henry refuses to tell anyone that Marcus was his attacker but decides that he will never push the button. Eventually, Diego and Audrey convince Henry to go to the fair where he realizes he cares for Diego in the same way that he loved Jesse. It is there that he learns that Audrey was sent to a mental hospital after Jesse’s death, not Switzerland like her father told Henry before. Later, after Zooey unintentionally stops Henry from committing suicide himself, he and Audrey realize that they both blame themselves for Jesse’s death and bond over their shared grief.

Over Thanksgiving, Henry goes to Diego’s house after Nana’s forgetfulness leads to a fight at his own home. It is there that Diego and Henry kiss for the first time, but Henry is terrified of falling for Diego. He is abducted again, this time for four days before he is returned home to his terrified family. He learns that his mother placed Nana into a nursing home and he lies about his own mental state to keep his mother from breaking even more.

Eventually, despite Marcus’s confusing actions, Henry realizes that he deeply cares for Diego and eventually introduces him to his family. There, Diego revealed that he spent two years in juvenile detention after he saved his mother from his father, breaking the man’s arms and nose in the process. This convinces Henry that Diego must have broken Marcus’s windows, but Diego refuses to answer. Then, Henry decides he needs to break into Jesse’s home to find a suicide note and prove that Jesse’s death was not meaningless. Inside, he finds that Jesse’s parents have changed his room into a sewing room and Henry is devastated to not find his answer. Audrey comforts him by telling him that she is the one who broke Marcus’s window because she still sees Henry as a friend and encourages him to seek out Diego.

Diego and Henry reconnect over Christmas. Then, Henry and his family decide to have a New Year’s Eve party but are interrupted when Zooey starts to bleed. They all rush to the hospital, but the child does not survive. Charlie mourns the loss and Henry comforts him, finally admitting that Charlie would have made a good father. Henry begs the sluggers to take him so he can push the button and save those he loves, but nothing happens.

Everything comes to a head when Diego reveals his painting of Henry filled with images of his family and memories. Henry is so overwhelmed that he runs and ends up finding Marcus. However, when Marcus tries to rape Henry, he manages to escape to safety and finally tells a teacher who had attacked him. In the hospital, Henry admits to his mother that he is not okay and she sends him to a mental institute. A week later, Henry is released as he begins to come to terms with Jesse’s death and his own future. He is relieved to hear that Diego was not arrested after he attacked Marcus and they are all thrilled when Zooey and Charlie finally get married.

In the end, it is revealed that the entire narrative is actually a collection of Henry’s journals leading up to the predicted end of the world. The few doomsday scenarios were scientific examples of what could happen if he does not push the button but Henry realizes that he no longer cares how the end comes. Instead, he decides that people can choose the life they want to have and continue forward, even if the universe one day forgets them all.