This book is about Greg Heffley and his experiences while he is in middle school. Greg has to face many challenges during his first year in middle school, like having to avoid to get the cheese touch, getting beat up by teenagers, and having to deal with his annoying friend Rowley.Throughout the book, things get worst for Greg. During trick-or-treating on Halloween night, Greg and Rowley are ambushed by a group of teenagers. They go to Greg's grandmother's house and taunt the teenagers from there by making sounds and faces at them, where eventually Greg's mom makes them come home. On Christmas day, he gets very few presents that he likes while his brother Manny gets all the presents that he wanted.
On Christmas, Greg then throws a football at Rowley while he is riding the Big Wheel, breaking his hand. At school, Rowley is surrounded by girls because he is injured, which makes Greg mad because he wants more attention from girls. This all leads to the climax of the story, where Rowley and Greg stop being friends because he got Rowley in trouble while they were working on the saftey patrol. Rowley's comic strip "Zoo-Wee Mama", is entered into the school's newspaper, and Greg tells Rowley to put him as the co-creator because it was his idea and joke punchline, who said that Greg had nothing to do with it. They get ready to fight but are then interrupted by the teenagers they taunted on Halloween who force Rowley to eat the cheese at the blacktop, but Greg gets away by lying that he is allergic to dairy products. The next day, Greg explains that he removed the Cheese, but unfortunately for him, the other students thought that this meant Greg actually touched it, giving him the Cheese Touch. Greg and Rowley become best friends again.
On Christmas, Greg then throws a football at Rowley while he is riding the Big Wheel, breaking his hand. At school, Rowley is surrounded by girls because he is injured, which makes Greg mad because he wants more attention from girls. This all leads to the climax of the story, where Rowley and Greg stop being friends because he got Rowley in trouble while they were working on the saftey patrol. Rowley's comic strip "Zoo-Wee Mama", is entered into the school's newspaper, and Greg tells Rowley to put him as the co-creator because it was his idea and joke punchline, who said that Greg had nothing to do with it. They get ready to fight but are then interrupted by the teenagers they taunted on Halloween who force Rowley to eat the cheese at the blacktop, but Greg gets away by lying that he is allergic to dairy products. The next day, Greg explains that he removed the Cheese, but unfortunately for him, the other students thought that this meant Greg actually touched it, giving him the Cheese Touch. Greg and Rowley become best friends again.