Gravity always wins in the end . . . sometimes gradually, sometimes with an avalanche.

A life-long climber, seventeen-year-old Jordan spends as much time as he can scaling the sun-baked crags outside his Washington hometown. He's a bit of a pipsqueak - a buck forty with satellite-dish ears - but thanks to his rock-carved physique and climber's confidence, he's found a pretty trouble-free route through high school. It doesn't hurt that his friend A. J., a fellow climber and popular super-jock, keeps the gorilla football players off his back, or that his girlfriend Juana likes the crags as much as he does. All in all, Jordan's got a crimp hold on happiness.

But even the tightest grip is useless if a piece of the rock breaks away. For the climber, there are only two absolutes in life: gravity and death. Unfortunately, Jordan can't protect his loved ones from either.