After the suicide of her terminally ill father, Milly becomes friends with Eric, who lost both of his parents to a plane crash.

Fourteen-year-old Amelia "Milly" Michaelson (Deakins) and her family move into a new suburban home shortly after the death of her father.

Milly makes friends with her new neighbor Geneva, and Milly and her eight-year-old brother Louis (Savage), a budding military buff, have difficulty adjusting to their new schools, while their mother Charlene (Bedelia) copes with a demotion at work and her inability to learn how to use a computer.

Milly and Geneva observe Eric Gibb (Underwood), a boy with autism, living next door with his alcoholic uncle Hugo (Gwynne).

Eric has never spoken a word in his life, doesn't like to be around people, and exhibits bizarre behavior related to flying.

After watching Eric fly off, Milly's dream becomes a nightmare as she sees her Dad in a hospital bed, dead, with a girl called Mona throwing a volleyball at her which knocks her out of the window.

Dr. Grenader, however, puts forth a more logical explanation and explains her belief that Eric can fly may be due to stress caused by the death of her father as he died from cancer.

Another attempt by Louis to get around the block fails as the bullies tear his tricycle apart and to make matters worse, his dog Max is hit by a passing car and is taken to an animal hospital.

The site's consensus states: "Writer-director Nick Castle's careful command of tone keeps The Boy Who Could Fly from fully surrendering to its story's sentimental tendencies.

"[3] Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote ”Here is a sweet and innocent parable about a boy who could fly -- and about a girl who could fly, too.”[4] Variety wrote “The Boy Who Could Fly is a well-intentioned film that deals with mental illness, suicide and other weighty subjects and their effects on children in a general and understanding way.” Adding “Under Nick Castle's careful direction, scenes never become maudlin, which is remarkable considering the potential of the subject matter.

Intrada Records issued the complete score in 2015, including Stephen Bishop's "Walkin' On Air" (written and recorded for the film's end credits in lieu of Broughton's unused end title cue) and the brief song "Back Of The Bus" (written by screenwriter Nick Castle and Broughton).

The band The Coupe de Villes (composed of Nick Castle, horror director/composer/screenwriter/musician John Carpenter and director Tommy Lee Wallace) appear in a cameo on a television in a scene in the film playing their original song "Back on the Bus".

The band is known today for their theme song "Big Trouble in Little China" for the movie with the same name directed by Carpenter, and their 1985 album Waiting out the Eighties.