Jesse Rodriguez has a pretty exciting job for a 13-year-old, working for his friend Buck at a small flight and skydiving school near Seattle. But he still can't wait to turn 16 and finally be old enough to make his first free-fall jump from a plane. Buck has been like a father to him ever since Jesse's dad died, and has made sure that Jesse picks up all he needs to know about skydiving while he does odd jobs around the airport.

But Jesse and his friend Robin Waterford have also learned something very disturbing. Someone's been using the airport to smuggle members of a Central American drug cartel into the United States, and Jesse's worried that Buck is involved. Jesse and Robin find themselves in the middle of a dangerous international situation, and are forced to make their first jumps sooner than they ever expected!