'Tommy Bell is a young boy who has trouble at school, most of which he makes for himself. At the beginning of the book, he is kept in at lunch time because he failed a history test on the Gold Rush days. This led to him missing out on buying a doughnut at the tuckshop, which led to him kicking another boy who was eating a doughnut and stealing the aforementioned doughnut, which led to the necessity of running away and ‘wagging school’ for the rest of the day. ...'