The story revolves around 12 years old Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) who is always rejected and ignored by others because she is awkward, both physically and socially. Her peers call her "Wienerdog" and no one is interested in her. She has to face lot of problems at her school and at her home as her parents do not pay any attention to her. She has a cute younger sister Missy (Daria Kalinina) and a bookish older brother Mark (Matthew Faber). Dawn has developed a crush on Steve (Eric Mabius), who is obviously not interested in her. However, Dawn becomes successful in attracting the attention of a boy at school called Brandon (Brendan Sexton) who is a mean-spirited junior thug and the one whose idea of a good time is threatening Dawn with rape.