In Azusa, California in 1979, Rocky Dennis, who has craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, is accepted without question by his freewheeling biker mother's boyfriends, particularly Gar, his "extended motorcycle family", and his maternal grandparents who share his love of baseball card collecting; but is treated with fear, pity, awkwardness, and teasing by those unaware of his humanity, humor, and intelligence. Rocky's mother, Florence "Rusty" Dennis, is determined to give Rocky as normal a life as possible, in spite of her own wild ways as a member of the ''Turks'' Outlaw motorcycle club, as well as her strained relationship with her parents. She fights for Rocky's inclusion in a mainstream junior high school and confronts a principal who would rather relegate him to a special education school, despite the fact that his condition hasn't affected his intelligence. They then go to the doctor for Rocky's semi-annual physical, where Rocky claims to be feeling well, despite continuing headaches, that his mother can sing away. A young doctor tells Rusty that Rocky will probably not live for more than six months which Rusty scoffs at, as the doctors had been making predictions in the past that Rocky would be blind, deaf etc., none of which came to be.