Phinn as a fourteen year old lives by the beach. His best friends are Frosty Jack, a surfer extraordinaire, Chuck, a retired tile layer, and Sue, a sculptor of unusual designs. They all sell their beach cottages and journey off. Jack to surf all over the world. Chuck to meet the home run legend, Henry Aaron. Sue to sculpt figures for La Maison Du Chocolat in Paris. Phinn feels lost and abandoned with one friend—an obnoxious white Husky with blue eyes he calls Blacky. They witness a cargo plane crash. Roberto Clemente, a famous baseball player, climbs out. He warns Phinn of an earthquake to hit LA. It does. Phinn imagines Roberto rescues him away to become a superhero—Salamander Boy. Is it fantasy or is it real? Phinn cannot determine. He returns to the catastrophe of the earthquake. Who must Phinn save first? As Salamander Boy or a boy? In the chaos, someone is kidnapping girls. Can he help them before they are sold as sex slaves?