It's the summer of 1966 - and on Michigan's Mackinac Island against his will, young Walter Hudson, an aspiring scientist with a passion for the space program, feels trapped and out of place. His big-city upbringing is at odds with kids who enjoy winter and ride horses and he thinks nothing interesting will ever happen on an eight-mile around dot of land where they don't even have cars. Then, he's witness to a plot to bribe Governor Romney to stall housing integration, his newspaper-editor mother goes to jail to protect him as a source, and he has to learn a few tricks of the journalism trade. While grappling with the bad guys, Walter has to make a white knuckle-escape by helicopter. The pilot is Jane Hart, Senator Phil Hart's wife, who's trying to become an astronaut while space is still a male-only club.