A country boy who didn't know, before that summer, that he was poor. He gives an account of his early life, one room school house, dirt roads, an eight party phone line and a life filled with farming chores and coal mines. He gets a rare opportunity to step outside his blue color, farming community roots and spend a summer with relatives who had recently moved to upper middle class. This sometimes humorous, sometimes serious adventure is a true account of the "Summer of 55', the events leading up to that time and the events that follow which take him from a "Return to innocences" and into "The coming of ace".