This charming account of life, circa 1956, in a remote mining town in central Colorado , depicts a vivid sense of the intensity of a child's world - its passions, fears, anxieties, joys and pleasures. Contrasted with the ambience of family life in all its detail and devotion are sharp, but often wry, scenes where the young protagonist strains against the restrictions and prohibitions that are a natural part of growing up and the testing of which in large part measures that growth. The storyline is interwoven with historical vignettes regarding the molybdenum mining industry during it's heyday, and the foundation and maintenance of the town of Climax at 11,300 feet - a unique community and an important part of Colorado history.