Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students. TJ embodies many different aspects of everyday older tweens--he is multiracial, athletic, adopted, angry, and suffers from issues of abandonment. However, he takes all of these things with stride, and uses the best of them to try and save others. Many tweens will find aspects of his character that they can relate to, as well as the band of outcasts he forms his swim team with. Tweens will also be intrigued by the unconditional support of TJ's adopted, hippy parents.
