Ravi stands to introduce himself to his class on the first day, and everyone laughs at his formal manners.

Dillon crushes one of Joe's earbuds under his shoe at lunch, leaving Joe's hearing feeling lopsided.

Former teacher Mr. Barnes gives Joe advice after school, telling him not to let bullies get to him.

Ravi performs elaborate Vedic math at the whiteboard, but Mrs. Beam tells him his extra work was unnecessary.

Miss Frost pulls both Joe and Ravi out of class for special help in the resource room.

Dillon deliberately throws a baseball at Ravi during gym class, hitting him hard in the shoulder.

Dillon calls Ravi 'curryhead' in the cafeteria and mocks him in front of the whole lunch table.

Joe's mom blows her lunch monitor whistle to break up Joe and Dillon's confrontation in the cafeteria.

Ravi runs to the bathroom and realizes he used to bully a kid named Ramaswami at his old school.

Joe wakes up late to find his parents sitting at the kitchen table waiting for him.

Perimma threatens to leave and Ravi shouts that he is quitting Albert Einstein Elementary School forever.

Ravi's grandfather Perippa takes him on a walk and catches leeches from the pond for his school project.

Joe and his mom reconcile in the car as she announces she will quit her job as lunch monitor.

Dillon steals Joe's peanut M&M from the glass dish Joe brought for his personal reflection project.

Dillon hides the jar of leeches in his pants and runs screaming down the hall in his underwear.

Over one school week, two fifth graders named Ravi and Joe navigate their first days at Albert Einstein Elementary while dealing with the class bully, Dillon. Ravi arrives from India expecting success but is immediately misunderstood by classmates and teachers, while Joe endures the daily torment Dillon inflicts on him. Miss Frost's resource room brings both boys together, though Ravi still cannot see Dillon for who he truly is. A turning point arrives when Dillon publicly humiliates Ravi in the cafeteria, forcing Ravi to confront an uncomfortable truth about his own past. Both boys reach their breaking points at home and confide in their families, finding the strength to return to school with a new sense of purpose. By Friday, their unlikely alliance results in Dillon getting his comeuppance through a perfectly timed leech prank, and Joe and Ravi finally become friends.

The week's most pivotal moments: from first impressions to Dillon's final humiliation.

Mrs. Beam mispronounces Ravi's name and suggests he work with Miss Frost to improve his English.

Joe's mom blows him a kiss from across the cafeteria on the first day, embarrassing him in front of Dillon.

Joe refuses his mom's offer of a ride home and walks instead, still furious about the cafeteria kiss.

Joe bends to help Ravi pick up a dropped notecard and the two boys crash their heads together.

Dillon trips Ravi on his way back to his desk after the math demonstration, then blames Joe for the fall.

Ravi gives the biological definition of 'assimilate' in class, not realizing Mrs. Beam is asking for a social context.

Ravi finds the correct cultural definition of 'assimilate' in Miss Frost's dictionary and realizes Mrs. Beam was right.

Ravi brings homemade naan khatai cookies to school to win over Mrs. Beam on the third day of school.

The gym teacher yells at Ravi for lacking safety goggles, forcing Ravi to play baseball without his glasses.

Dillon tricks Ravi into eating beef chili at lunch, knowing Ravi is a vegetarian Hindu who cannot eat cow.

Perimma discovers the cruel cartoon Dillon drew mocking Joe and his mother inside Ravi's backpack.

Joe's father slides a heartfelt apology note under Joe's bedroom door, telling Joe what a great son he is.

Ravi breaks down crying and finally tells his mother everything that has been happening to him at school.

Mrs. Beam correctly pronounces Ravi's name after Ravi explains that it means 'the sun' in Sanskrit.

Ravi picks up Joe's personal reflection notecard and correctly places it on Joe's desk, cementing their new friendship.

Behind the week's big moments are the smaller events that shape how Joe and Ravi see themselves and each other. Teachers and family members repeatedly misread both boys — mispronouncing Ravi's name and dismissing Joe's abilities — while Dillon quietly continues his campaign of cruelty. Many of Ravi's frustrations stem from his own assumptions being proven wrong, whether about a vocabulary word or about who is truly responsible for tripping him. At home on Thursday, both families help their sons process the painful week, with Joe's father's apology note proving unexpectedly meaningful and Ravi finally breaking his silence with his mother. On Friday, small acts of grace bring the week to a close: Mrs. Beam at last says Ravi's name correctly, and Ravi repays an unseen kindness by placing Joe's notecard on the right desk. These quieter moments make clear that respect and understanding, more than any single dramatic confrontation, are what ultimately bring the two boys together.

The details behind the drama: misunderstandings, small kindnesses, and quiet breakthroughs.

Ravi sees Dillon smile and wink at him on the first day and decides Dillon wants to be his friend.

Joe notices Ravi sitting next to him on the first day and privately hopes Dillon will bully Ravi instead.

Dillon steals Ravi's mechanical pencils by slipping them down his pants while pretending to help pick them up.

Ravi corrects Miss Frost on his name's pronunciation and firmly insists that English is his first language.

Ravi secretly takes the rare double blue peanut M&M from Miss Frost's office and pockets it.

Joe watches Dillon steal Ravi's pencil and considers warning Ravi, privately thinking they might become friends.

Ravi sits down at Dillon's lunch table for the first time, believing he has finally found where he belongs.

Joe imagines Dillon as a harmless chipmunk with stuffed cheeks and bursts out laughing in the cafeteria.

Joe explodes at his parents during a family meeting, declaring that his father does not accept people who are different.

Perimma and Amma display a decorated board of Ravi's accomplishments, but Ravi only feels like a complete failure.

Ravi hugs his mother goodbye at school drop-off and walks inside feeling like the luckiest boy in the world.

Joe spots the double blue peanut M&M back in his empty glass dish and immediately knows Ravi replaced it.

Ravi winks at Dillon during the personal reflection matching game, signaling that he has finally figured Dillon out.

Joe passes Ravi a secret note warning him not to touch the jar of leeches before the class lines up.

Joe reflects that two zebras have outsmarted the crocodile and looks forward to sharing pizza with Ravi.

From the very first day, Joe and Ravi each carry private thoughts that set the week's events in motion — Ravi's blind faith in Dillon's friendship and Joe's quiet hope to remain invisible. Small choices accumulate: Ravi pocketing a rare double M&M, and Joe silently watching Dillon steal pencils while wondering whether to warn the new kid. The physical and emotional collisions of Wednesday force both boys inward, as Joe's unexpected burst of laughter and Ravi's private reckoning with his own bullying past mark visible shifts in their inner lives. On Thursday, removed from school, each boy faces a harder truth: Joe that he must finally speak up, and Ravi that his sense of identity has crumbled under the pressure of fitting in. Friday brings a chain of small but charged moments — Ravi walking into school feeling genuinely lucky, a replaced M&M communicating what words cannot, and a warning note passed just in time. Joe's final reflection confirms that two zebras have, together, outwitted the crocodile.