Bud is finding life pretty tough in his new foster home, and that's putting it mildly. His new foster brother Todd is a sadistic bully who's always picking on him. Even worse, Todd's mother, Mrs. Amos, always takes his side and will never hear a word spoken against her little darling. As well as beating up Bud, Todd takes great delight in shoving a pencil right up his nose. Apparently, it's a specialty of his; it's something he does with all the foster kids who have the profound misfortune to wind up at the Amos residence. In fact, Todd is rather proud of his little party piece. He brags that he managed to shove the pencil much further up Bud's nose than any of the other foster kids'.