"The Great Big Buzz-off" starts with the premise: life isn't fair, and family isn't all it's cracked up to be. When Johnny's bigger, older brother hogs the spotlight, he feels smothered. At the age of eleven, he determines he must find a way out of the shadow of his brother Tommy.
With help he designs a contest like no other, "The Great Big Buzz-off." It's a contest where he believes he can whoop his older brother in front of the neighborhood kids because it builds on his strength- the knowledge of insects. It's a test of courage between siblings where each must hold a pear with bees on it for ten seconds. Different species of bees and wasps are assigned different sting values which affects the scoring.
While practicing, Johnny is stung by a fearsome Queen Bee Hornet. He preserves her in a life-like pose and then must decide can she help him win the contest?
With laugh-out-loud dialogue, the dilemma is explored through family and friend interactions, through childhood musings on morality, and with basic facts on the natural history of insects and scientific experimentation.
The day of the Great Big Buzz-off is a gathering of the neighborhood kids, both Big and small, with a carnival-like atmosphere. As each boy hoists their respective pears the crowds of kids cheer and gasp. The contest climax includes a dramatic turn-about that leaves Johnny broken.
Afterwards, families gather to share what they've grown during their annual Neighborhood Produce Bowl. While playing a game of touch football, some pesky insects intervene causing mayhem and need for a courageous act. The brothers then find reconciliation from the outcome of the contest lurking within the venom of a yellow jacket's sting.