After leaving his previous coaching position, Michael Burns accepts a position as assistant football coach/high school librarian in Columbia Beach, VA, "The Paradise on the Potomac." If only it had lived up to its name.
Although the 1978 football season at Columbia Beach HS could have taken place during any year at any school in any small town in America, for Michael Burns it becomes a defining moment. What he's searching for is a fresh start on a level playing field, but what he gets are out-of-control coaches, high-maintenance players, and teachers who can't keep their hands to themselves. Amid the storms, Michael finds two things that keep him afloat: his torrid romance with Michelle Lemond, the French teacher at the high school, and his search for a coaching philosophy based on trust, not intimidation.
Ultimately, Michael must decide between remaining at "The Beach" with Michelle or following his coaching vision wherever it leads him. In this story of education and redemption, Michael bumps along the dusty roads of Virginia and North Carolina for ten years in search of his coaching identity until Jerry Goodson, his former mentor, summons him back to Columbia Beach where his destiny still awaits him.