Young ski champion Jill Kinmont is left paralyzed after a tragic skiing accident. Her best friend suffers the same fate after contracting polio. Jill must slowly put her life back together again with the help of those close to her.

Based on the true story of Jill Kinmont. In 1955, eighteen-year-old Jill is a truly talented, gifted skier and a shoo-in for the 1956 Winter Olympics. But Jill comes close to losing everything when she takes a near fatal fall off a mountain during the last race of the season. Paralyzed from the shoulders down, Jill now has to climb another kind of mountain-working her way up from total helplessness to leading a fulfilling life. With the help of family, friends, and an extraordinary man, Jill begins the quest up that mountain.—Anonymous

A semi-fictional account of Jill Kinmont is presented, the account primarily on the transition out of her life as a skier. It's 1955, and she's part of the successful ski team of Bishop High School in Bishop, California under coach Dave McCoy. She and her best friend and teammate A.J. Nicholson dreamed of skiing in the Olympics together, dependent next year on they doing well in the regionals which factors into who is named to the national team. Much is made in the press of a relationship between Jill and Buddy Werner, arguably the most accomplished male skier on the regional circuit from the rival team from Boulder, that relationship despite Jill being more attracted to Dick Buek, a proverbial hot dogger who is already on the national team but who is engaged to someone else. Jill's Olympic dreams with A.J. are shattered when both their skiing lives are permanently sidelined, first A.J. due to health issues in a polio diagnosis, and second when Jill is involved in a horrific crash in the last race of the season. Her injuries lead not to a question of if she will ever walk again - which she won't - let alone ski but rather whether she will survive. Coming out the other end a quadriplegic, Jill has both to believe in herself in identifying as someone other than a skier, and to have others provide the supports she needs in seeing beyond her physical disability. One person arguably provides that support more than anyone else in truly believing in the strength within Jill if she only believes it herself.—Huggo