Greg starts writing in a journal at his mother's insistence, complaining about being stuck in middle school with morons.

Greg runs for school treasurer but abandons his campaign after the vice principal rejects his attack posters.

Teenagers blast Greg and Rowley with a fire extinguisher on Halloween and chase them through the neighborhood.

Greg's dad throws water on Greg and Rowley after Halloween night, mistaking them for troublemakers and ruining their candy.

Greg's mom signs him up for the school play without his consent, hoping it will make him more well-rounded.

Greg throws apples at Patty Farrell during the play performance, forcing the show to stop when her glasses are knocked off.

Rowley gives Greg a Big Wheel tricycle as a Christmas present, which Greg privately dismisses as a little kid's toy.

Greg invents a dangerous game where Rowley rides the Big Wheel downhill while Greg throws footballs at him, breaking Rowley's hand.

Greg and Rowley sign up for Safety Patrol to earn free hot chocolate and get excused from Pre-Algebra.

Greg chases kindergarteners with worms while wearing Rowley's coat, and a neighbor mistakes Greg for Rowley.

Greg decides to let Rowley take the blame for the worm-chasing incident rather than lose his own Safety Patrol privileges.

An anonymous source names Greg as the real culprit in the worm-chasing incident, and Greg is removed from Safety Patrol.

Greg discovers that Rowley has been named the school newspaper's new cartoonist thanks to the Zoo-Wee Mama comic.

Teenagers corner Greg and Rowley and force Rowley to eat the moldy Cheese; Greg escapes by claiming a dairy allergy.

Greg and Rowley reconcile and resume their friendship; Rowley is voted Class Clown in the school yearbook.

Greg Heffley starts middle school determined to become popular and documents his schemes in a journal his mother pushed on him. His early attempts — running for school treasurer and surviving a disastrous Halloween night with Rowley — all collapse through poor planning and bad luck. After his mother forces him into the school play, Greg causes a scene on stage that embarrasses his entire family and cements his reputation for chaos. The friendship with Rowley deteriorates when Greg's carelessness breaks Rowley's hand and Greg later lets Rowley take the blame for a bullying incident Greg himself caused. By spring, every popularity scheme has backfired and it takes a climactic run-in with teenagers and the infamous Cheese to push Greg toward his first genuine act of selflessness. The two friends reconcile, and Greg closes the year without the popularity he craved but with a renewed friendship.

The headline milestones of Greg's school year.

Greg describes the Cheese Touch and how a student named Darren Walsh accidentally started the phenomenon the previous school year.

Greg steals Rodrick's heavy metal CD and accidentally blasts it through the family stereo, losing his video game privileges.

Greg hides violent video game discs inside children's game cases to fool Rowley's dad and keep playing games at Rowley's house.

Greg and Rowley secretly build a haunted house in Rowley's basement without telling his parents; Rowley's dad discovers it and grounds Rowley.

Greg's dad and little brother Manny join the Halloween trick-or-treating route, slowing Greg and Rowley to about one house every twenty minutes.

Greg discovers he must wrestle the unhygienic and bizarre Fregley during the school's wrestling unit because they share the same weight class.

Greg builds a homemade weight set out of sand-filled milk jugs and uses Rowley as a test subject for the equipment.

Greg auditions for the role of a tree in the Wizard of Oz specifically so he can throw apples at Patty Farrell.

Greg's dad surprises him with a brand-new weight set for Christmas, but Greg has already completely lost interest in weightlifting.

Greg's mom accidentally gives Greg the wool sweater meant for the family's Giving Tree recipient, who likely received the Twisted Wizard game.

Greg wraps his hand in gauze to fake an injury and copy Rowley's attention-getting cast, but nobody believes him.

Greg and Rowley's collaboration on the Zoo-Wee Mama comic breaks down after Greg dismisses Rowley's writing and artistic contributions.

Greg creates a comic called Creighton the Cretin and secretly slides rival cartoonists' submissions under a pile of paperwork to boost his odds.

Greg desperately invites himself to spend the night at Fregley's house after losing Rowley's friendship but flees in the middle of the night.

Greg realizes that carrying the Cheese Touch comes with unexpected perks, including a private lunch table and skipping the square dance unit.

Running alongside Greg's failed popularity schemes are the smaller incidents that reveal his character and fill in his chaotic school year. From stealing his brother's CD and sneaking violent games past Rowley's protective father, to running an unsanctioned haunted house and getting stuck wrestling an unhygienic classmate, Greg's misadventures are largely of his own making. His Christmas unfolds as a parade of disappointments — a weight set he no longer wants, a charity gift mix-up, and a Big Wheel he immediately turns into a weapon against Rowley. As Greg and Rowley's friendship unravels through the winter and spring, Greg's desperate loneliness bottoms out in a midnight escape from Fregley's house. The school year closes on a quiet ironic note: Greg carries the Cheese Touch stigma but quietly discovers that social exile comes with unexpected perks.

The behind-the-scenes moments and subplots that shape Greg's year.

Greg reveals he only befriended Rowley out of pity after Rowley showed up at his door with a knock-knock joke from a book.

Greg is placed in the Gifted reading group despite deliberately underperforming in the past to be assigned to the easier class.

A neighborhood kid pays the raised admission price for the haunted house but hides under a bed and refuses to come out.

Greg learns the tree costumes have no arm holes and tries to perform badly enough during rehearsals to get cut from the play.

A tree chips a tooth during rehearsal and the costumes are given arm holes, finally giving Greg a way to attack Patty Farrell.

Greg spots Rodrick holding a video camera in the audience on opening night of the play and refuses to sing a single note.

Greg asks his parents for serious exercise equipment, but they challenge him to prove his dedication before they will spend the money.

On New Year's Eve, Manny tells their mother Greg made him eat a spider, and Greg is sent to his room.

Boys in Independent Study spend the entire period listing bad words for the robot instead of working, and the program is shut down.

Greg kicks over Manny's snowman and his dad retaliates by destroying the giant snowball Greg and Rowley spent the day building.

Greg tells Rowley he was the one who chased the kindergarteners with worms but frames the conversation as advice about lending his coat.

Rowley is promoted on Safety Patrol and begins giving Greg the cold shoulder after telling the principal who really chased the kindergarteners.

Greg's plan to mock a substitute teacher for Class Clown votes collapses when he discovers the substitute is his own mother.

Greg confronts Rowley outside school over Zoo-Wee Mama's success and a crowd gathers to watch them fight.

Greg decides to tell everyone he threw the Cheese away, knowing it means being branded a social outcast to protect Rowley's reputation.

Beneath the comedy of Greg's year lies a series of turning points where his choices and self-deceptions are laid bare. From the start, Greg reveals that his friendship with Rowley was never truly equal — he befriended Rowley out of pity and has quietly exploited him ever since. His refusal to take responsibility surfaces again and again, from gaming his reading group placement to sabotaging his own play performance rather than admit he doesn't want to sing. Each winter milestone — the reveal of the arm holes, Rodrick's camera, his parents' fitness challenge, the New Year's Eve spider incident — plants a seed for the disasters that follow in the spring. When Greg's schemes collapse one by one and Rowley begins to thrive without him, Greg's isolation forces a moment of genuine reckoning. His decision to accept the Cheese Touch stigma and protect Rowley is the one moment all year where Greg chooses someone else's wellbeing over his own reputation.