WASHINGTON STATE, 1925. Slava Petrovich - or "Cuss" because he can swear in fourteen different languages - knows he'll become a coalminer one day like his older brothers.

For now, though, he is happy at school, hanging out with his best friends Perks and Skinny during the long, hot summers; fighting; and plotting daring train heists.

But trouble is brewing in town - a dead man is found and Cuss's childhood begins to disappear fast, as he faces the most difficult decision he has ever had to make...