Young Sam Clemens and his little brother Henry have stumbled across the chance of a lifetime. The two find themselves aboard a Mississippi River steamboat, where Sam becomes apprentice to the boat’s pilot. Though it's soon apparent that “learning the river” is harder than he ever imagined, Sam works hard - fighting hate, jealousy, and loss - to become a fine pilot - one who developed indisputable writing skills along the way, and whose love for the river never wavered.
The play's music includes “Mississippi Sunset,” a ballad about Henry’s homesickness, “Great Big Boat,” a folksy depiction of every young boy’s dream to be a steamboat pilot, and "Flights of Angels," a haunting crewmember anthem.
The play is a dramatization of the “pilot chapters” of Mark Twain’s autobiographical work Life On The Mississippi.