High school freshman Cameron Wright finds that duck egg blue is the perfect color for the river in a small-scale model of the Grand Canyon he's building for a science-class evolution project. It is this project that his ultrareligious father criticizes as being contrary to the creation story.

Cameron isn't the only one in his Arizona community to come under attack from the religious right. Cameron's science teacher, Mark Edwards, his mother's new boyfriend, is being pressured at school to give "creation science" equal time with evolution in the classroom, a directive that threatens both his position at the school and the separation of church and state. And Mr. Edwards is shocked to discover who's pulling the strings behind the Darwin-versus-the-Bible debate.

As the school year unfolds, Mr. Edwards and Cameron embark on a search for self, for right answers, and for ultimate meanings. In the end, this teacher and his student learn some very important lessons about values, courage, and integrity.