A ten-year old boy, Eli, loves to rock climb in Bubba's indoor gym in Chicago. He has never been on a real mountain, but fantasizes climbing Mount Everest. He has studied books and web sites about Everest, memorized the popular Southern climbing route from Base Camp, and read about all the dangers. He knows the youngest person to ever reach the summit was thirteen years old. Soon he starts dreaming about making an actual climb, as part of Bubba's Kids' Expedition: Eli and his four rock-climbing buddies, plus one parent for each kid, several Sherpas and their fearless leader, Maxwell. During the day Eli functions as a normal boy, attending school and working on fifth grade problems. But at night he dreams, with each dream bringing him closer to his goal of being the youngest person ever to climb Mount Everest.