The leading character, Sandy Scott, a strong swimmer, leaves his home in the mountains of Western North Carolina and enters college in California to learn the sport of water polo. Six years later, he returns home and revives a defunct water polo program at his local YMCA, working with young eleven- and twelve-year-olds. The book follows his trials and tribulations as he takes his team of boys and girls to tournaments in Pennsylvania and Colorado. There is a family element in the story as well as a secondary love interest. Although fictional, the novel is based on some of the author's actual experiences.