Marty finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home and tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat dogs.
Rocket boy Homer Hickam returns home triumphantly from his freshman year at college. Unfortunately, his high-flown fantasies are punctured by family problems, and Homer is compelled to enter the mines he so fervently hates.
