Born prematurely, twelve-year-old Dorothy has worn thick glasses and has had trouble with her ankles all her life. An ankle operation has helped her beyond braces and crutches although her ankles are still weak. Eyeglasses have improved her myopic vision caused by retrolental fibroplasia (scarred retina) which was brought about by the same oxygen that saved her newborn life. She has endured with a sense of humor the misconceptions of adults and the taunts of schoolmates.
Now, wanting to improve her vision and hearing that oxygen somehow was responsible for her problem, Dee researches oxygen at the public and local hospitals medical library. She determines that oxygen hurt her eyes and that less of it would improve her eyesight.
Because higher altitudes mean less oxygen, Dee engineers a camping-fishing trip to the Adirondak Mountains with her father and plans a dangerous solo hike to the top of Mt. Lookout to test her theory. Disaster strikes with a thunderstorm. She tumbles and skids down the slope, breaks her glasses and crashes into her father who had followed to rescue her when the storm began. He breaks his ankle. Dee must now become the heroine shed often dreamed herself to be! She must, somehow, get down the mountainside for help.
Later, realizing that Dee should know the details of her premature birth survival, her parents take her first to the hospital where she was born and then to the larger hospital with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that saved her life. There, Dee speaks to Dr. Lazari, the doctor who administered the oxygen to save her tiny life, the doctor who she has blamed for her poor eyesight. We feel her emotions as she speaks with him and sees other premature babies being cared for.
Dee makes her way to her own personal mountaintop.
