This book is about a neighborhood gang, called the greasers, that gets into a fight with another group and one of the other groups members is killed by the greasers and now the two that killed the boy are on the run. While they are in hiding, they try to change their appearance, and they get help from their friends and fellow gang members. While in hiding, the two boys tried to save a class that went into the burning building where the boys were staying and they got seriously hurt in the process, and came very close to dying.