Adam Farmer's real name is Paul Delemonte. His father had been a newsday reporter who uncovered a large conspiracy and testified against it. After several attempts on his life, he and his family entered the Department of Re-identification. Adam had not been told about his past for part of his life.

Later, they received a text from their bodyguard, Mr. Grey, saying that they may have been discovered. They go on "vacation" to hide. One day while on vacation, their "protection" attacked them, killing Adam's Dad and Mum instantly. Adam survived, and heard that his dad was being pursued, but was not sure he had been found and killed at first. He was placed in a hospital or mental institution where a doctor named Brint tries to recover Adams memories of the past. Adam is biking to Rutterberg he is in fact going to visit his dad. The sessions with Brint in the dictionary represent the first time he has been sleeping. The final interview ends with a list of two possible outcomes, but none bode well for Adam: questioning him until he dies or terminating him.

The chapters alternate between first-person, present tense during Adam's journey and third-person, past tense, during the psychiatric interviews.

This quote is a verse from the song that Adam sings during the book:

The cheese stands aloneThe cheese stands aloneHi-ho, the merry-oThe cheese stands alone

He sings many of these songs throughout the novel. The song contains several characters, each taking someone with them when the farmer leaves, yet the cheese has nobody

Adam is the cheese, he believes; he is alone in the world, both parents dead, living in a hospital. He thinks that he is alone and not wanted anymore. Also, as in other works by Cormier, there is a dual meaning to the title. The words "I am the cheese" may also represent Adam's feelings of entrapment: himself being the bait used to lure his parents into their murders.[original research?]

The 1975 novel I Am the Cheese began Cormier's experimentation with first-person, present tense, narration. When Cormier sent the manuscript off to the publisher of his previous novel, The Chocolate War, he was confused and depressed, convinced that he was alienating his new young adult audience due to the complex and ambiguous story.

However, I Am the Cheese proved to be a success.

In 1983, I Am the Cheese was made into a movie directed by Robert Jiras and starring Robert MacNaughton, Hope Lange, Don Murray, Lee Richardson, Cynthia Nixon and Robert Wagner. The screenplay was written by David Lange (Hope Lange's brother) and Robert Jiras.