Eager to accompany his parents to the surf-friendly shores of the South Pacific, he is dismayed to find out that he will not be joining them and instead will be living with his aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio, to finish the remainder of his high school semester.

To add to his disillusion, he meets his cousin Wiley, who at first glance is an awkward teenager and whose parents' lifestyle and demeanor, though warm and hospitable, is a bit old-fashioned.

This leaves Jack and Mitchell in clear sight of the finish line, as they approach in tandem victory to the cheers of their awaiting schoolmates, and kisses of respective love interests.

Producer Stephen McEveety collaborated on the story with his former schoolmate, speech teacher and children's book writer Bill Apablasa, who also wrote the screenplay.

[3] During production, filmmakers consulted with professional in-line skaters from Team Rollerblade, who spent twelve days choreographing the skating sequences, performing onscreen stunts, and training the actors in the sport.

"[4] In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Chris Willman commended the production team for their efforts, praising cinematographer Okada for giving the film "a surprising natural light look" and composer Copeland for providing "a well above average rock score", and giving huge credit to second unit director Steve Boyum, stunt coordinator Pat Parnell and the skaters for making the skating scenes and finale "inherently cinematic".

"[5] The New York Times's Stephen Holden called it "a modest attempt to take a familiar genre, the surf movie, and spin it into a new subgenre, the Rollerblades film.