"Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it's served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don't knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what's buried in the Morrows' backyard. But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn't like the rest of his family. He doesn't take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees....

Homer Hickam, the introspective son of a mine superintendent and a mother determined to get him out of Coalwood, West Virginia, forever, nurtures a dream to send rockets into outer space--an ambition that changes his life and the lives of everyone living in Coalwood in 1957.