Nate Tanner is a rich boy whose family owns coal mines near Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He has everything a kid could want or need - except a friend. Then he meets Johnny, an easygoing Polish American boy who works sorting coal in a filthy, dark building called a breaker. Unaware that Nate is the boss's son, Johnny invites him to play baseball with the breaker boys. As the summer of 1897 progresses, Nate finds himself piling lie on top of lie to keep his identity secret from Johnny, and the friendship secret from his family. In the patch town where the mining families live, Nate confronts...