Because of family need, an eight-year-old coal miner's son in 1885 leaves school to work at the mines, where he learns about the dangers of a coal mine on his first day on the job.

In 1905, ten-year-old Billy is taken from an orphanage to live with an aunt and an uncle of whose existence he was previously unaware. He enjoys his first taste of family life until his work in a coal mine and his involvement with a union bring trouble. He then joins a circus in hopes of finding his father.

In 1957, problems at the mine threaten to ruin Christmas for fifth-grader Don, his family, and the rest of their Oklahoma coal town, but Don's bloodhound, Frank, is determined to do whatever it takes to make the holiday special for Don and his six-year-old sister, Susan. Alternate chapters are told from the human and canine points of view.

"Life in Bearmouth is one of hard labor and isolation, the sunlit world far above the mine a distant memory. Newt has lived in the mine since the age of four, and accepts everything from the harsh working conditions to the brutality of the mine's leaders--until the mysterious Devlin arrives and dares to ask the question, "Why?" As tensions rise, Newt is soon looking at Bearmouth with a fresh perspective--challenging the system and setting in motion...