The story takes place in Seattle, Washington, where Joe's dad, a prominent scientist, has just accepted a position with the University of Washington. Both he and his wife, a wellknown artist, are pleased with the move. Not so, however, their seventeen-year-old son Joe, who is forced to change school in his senior year. Missing his friends, and at a loss about what to do with the few remaining days of summer vacation, he wanders into a neighborhood basketball game, and strikes up an acquaintance with a boy who attends a nearby public high school. Sharing a love for the game becomes the basis for friendship, and Joe decides that he would like to attend the same school. Unfortunately, his father, who has ambitions for Joe to become a scientist, has other ideas and forces his son to enroll in a small private school with a good academic program...