Eb McCourry's final year at a tiny Appalachian school is rushing at a frantic pace toward showdowns on all fronts. Living in a children's home, he's struggling for an identity at his new school and finds it with the football and square dance teams and with an English teacher who forces him to write better than he thought he could. But not all is well. Eb faces a gun, two pedophiles, a sociopathic teammate, growing pressure to win and a budding love affair with the lovely and brilliant Lizetta. His college football scholarship and the doors it can open are at stake and he must grow up quickly.