About the title
11-year-old Jim is a gifted boy fascinated by science and space. After moving to a new town with his father, he decides to enter a science competition with his classmate Emma. Despite her objections, Jim convinces her to recreate Kittinger's "Excelsior" project (the first man to reach a stratospheric balloon near the edge of space in 1960) and build a giant balloon. His father Graham, an astrophysicist, once worked on this project but later abandoned it. Discouraged by this, Jim wants to prove that, unlike his father, he won't give up. He draws Emma into this adventure, which brings them closer together.