Homer Hicham, played by Jaike Gyllenhaal, is a high school student in a small coal mining town in West Virginia. It's 1957 and the Russians have just successfully launched Sputnik, the first satellite to circle the Earth. Homer is fascinated with the feat and decides to become a rocket scientist to help the United States. He makes friends with Wendell, Chris Cooper, a brilliant but nerdy classmate and in spite of ridicule from friends and a cold shoulder from his father, the two boys begin their attempt to build a rocket. This movie exposes the struggle that many of us are confronted with‹the struggle between conforming to a secure but limited life-style or choosing to break away from one¹s conditioning to follow a dream.

From the visually impaired point of view. This film starts out with lots of abrupt scene changes, some with very little dialogue. This is another bumpy beginning where you'll just have to do your best to hang on, hopefully with a good sighted assistant. Things ease up after the first fifteen minutes or so and the movie takes on a more relaxed pace. There were many characters but only a few with significant parts. Nevertheless I managed to miss two characters throughout the whole movie‹two boys who helped Homer and Wendell build the rockets. This was frustrating but it really didn¹t matter that much. I still followed the story pretty well.