From the 3:45 train that lumbers down the track every afternoon to home-cooked Sunday dinners, everything moves at a slow pace in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. That is, until a 1960's "You Can Build Anything" catalog pokes its head out of Gramps' mailbox. Without considering the safety of others, Gramps sends for the plans for a small airplane. His twelve-year-old granddaughter Winsley is outraged at the very thought and tries to talk him out of it to no avail. Worse, not only does Gramps intend to build an airplane, he plans to out-do the Waterman Whatsit, a plane build by Waldo Waterman in the early 1900's. Waldo's plane was designed for just one person. Gramps, on the other hand, is aiming for the "record books" by constructing the world's smallest passenger plane. Just when Winsley thinks things can't get any worse, Miss Hinkle, her brother's teacher, embarrasses her in front of the entire sixth grade class by announcing everyone in Cross Lanes is laughing their heads off about the airplane - and her crackpot grandfather. Embarrassed and hurt, Winsley becomes angry. Now, it's personal and Winsley is determined to change everyone's opinion.