On the outside, Tommy looks like a regular seventh grader, but he and his parents are really refugees from the center of the earth, lizard people disguised as humans. Fortunately, Tommy finds two new friends: Dung Tran, an immigrant from Vietnam whose parents are investigating the town's mysterious sinkholes, and Scarlett Roberts, the quirky daughter of the new school janitor. But he still feels out of place, and it doesn't help that the most popular video game and TV show around are both about evil lizard people. When a misunderstanding leads Tommy to make a terrible mistake, he finds a way to tell people about his true identity.