Coalwood, West Virginia is a mining town, and it's where main character and protagonist of the memoir, Homer Hickham, lives. His father is a well paid miner, and has always expected that his son will go into mining when he gets older. A proud man, Homer's father doesn't want to admit that mining is moving away for the future, and it is no longer a safe profession.
Elsie is Homer's mother, and she is the daughter of a coal miner. Elsie doesn't want Homer to be a miner, nor does she want her older son, Jim, to be one. Jim is the obviously preferred son of the Hickham household, with Homer's father, Homer Sr., always advocating for his sports scholarship to college.
Homer is introduced as Homer Hickham, but is frequently referred to throughout the novel as Sonny. Even though Sonny's father thinks that he has no talents, Sonny becomes interested in space - especially rockets. Sonny has a large group of friends that include Quentin Wilson, Roy Lee Cook, Sherman Siers, Jimmy O’Dell Carroll and Billy Rose. Together, they make a fake missile agency, inspired by "Sputnik" when they see it pass by.
At first, everyone thinks that the boys missile launching agency is a bust. It is simply a silly thing that a group of kids came up with. However, in Coalwood high school, Miss Reily, Sonny's chemistry teacher, encourages the boys. She purposely gives them assignments to create bigger, better rockets.
The boys go all out to do things to build their mini rockets better. They befriend a local blacksmith that will help them make metal parts for their rockets, which are no longer just toys. After much tinkering, the boys come up with a mechanism that succeeds in making the rocket fly up faster and further - this mechanism, they decided, could be used in real life rockets to make them work better.
At the end of the book, the boys have gained national attention. Reporters are here to look at their rockets. Sonny's father, however, still isn't too sure. He was in a coma for a while from the mine, but has recovered. He doesn't want to leave the house and accept that his son is doing something important.
Eventually, Elsie convinces him to come outside in a large field with hundreds of other people to see the boys launch their final rocket. It requires much fire to launch, and, at first, they think it is a dud. However, it takes off and reaches an altitude of 6 miles. Even helicopters flying by were looking at it. Sonny finally gets a place in his father's heart for his accomplishment.
