Paperboy tells the story as only an afternoon paperboy in rural America in the sixties can. Thousands of listeners identified with the unique characters of Colby while listening to The Bridge. They grew to love Tommy and the band of boys, were entertained by their childish pranks, and touched by their generosity.

In Paperboy, change is coming to Colby. The shoe factory has sold, and a hat factory is taking its place. A factory manager has been named, and he's definitely not from Colby. There's an influx of interesting newcomers. 

The high school principal is also new to Colby. He must deal with teenage pregnancy, the snooping high school office secretary, and the Colby Curls rumor mill. He, too, has a mysterious past and uses it to his advantage. 

The pregnant teen and her auto-mechanic single mother aren't Colby natives either. Rumors about both abound. The mother has a past which touches the present and eventually involves the entire town. Tommy and Booger, while delivering the Colby Telegraph, discover that Colby's patriarch Mr. Koch has a heroic but classified history. While raking leaves for Mrs. Whitener, they learn the origin of her accent and how she got to Colby. It's not what most people think.

Jupiter Storm, the town's primary purveyor of gossip, whose opinion always exceeds his knowledge, is perpetually annoying. But Tommy and Booger learn that Jupiter is a decorated World War II veteran. And when a threatening stranger appears on the scene, the entire town learns of Jupiter's unique but redeeming skill. How will Colby be different, and how will it be the same?