Lilly, a first-year school teacher, is roped into chaperoning a backpacking trip over the Spider Gap glacier. Unfortunately, she cannot find a sitter for her purse-dog and must smuggle him along on the trip.
All her friskiest sixth grade students are participating, as well as a handsome ski instructor who resists her efforts to organize their trip in a mathematically pleasing manner.
Can Lilly evoke a thirst for learning within her skeptical students, when she herself can barely survive the rigors of the trail?
