October Sky begins with Homer dreaming to go to college. He is desperate enough to go to college that he tries to join the football team, a sport at which he does not excel. When the Soviet Union launches their space satellite, Sputnik, the town of Coalwood erupts in excitement. When everyone turns out to watch the satellite soar overhead, Homer is enraptured with it. He goes home and proceeds to tell his family of his aspirations to build a rocket.

This rocket is a catalyst in that it focuses Homer on something bigger than his small coal-mining town, and gives him something to dream toward. However, when he tries to build a rocket, he succeeds only in blowing up his mother’s fence. He realizes that he needs help. Homer goes to the school "nerd" Quentin, who has a profound knowledge of rocketry, he is exited about this project and proceeds to help him. Quentin is a catalyst because he helps Homer achieve his goal. With his other friends help, Homer builds rockets and learns about the way they work.

When his teacher, Miss Riley, tells him of a science fair that could lead to college scholarships, he realizes it is still possible for him to go to college. She also gives him a book on the trigonometry involved in rocketry. In this way, Miss Riley is another catalyst in his life. Soon after this, there is a forest fire, which the county authorities blame on the boys and their rockets because Homer cannot locate all of them. The boys must quit their project.

After this his dad has an accident in the coalmine and Homer goes to work. While in the mine he learns that he can use the math in the book Miss Riley gave him to locate that rocket. He sets to work, and with much diligence he is able to figure out the coordinates of the missing rocket. After the boys find it, Homer quits the mine and joins school again. With new hope the boy’s aspirations to the science fair come true. They win locals, and later the national fair in Indianapolis.

The boys from Coalwood, all had tenacious spirits that allowed them to follow through their dream. Also, the catalyst in this small town affected Homer in such a way that his thinking was completely reversed. He thought at the beginning that he would have to be a coalminer because he lacked the muscle for football, but discovered that through his brain he was able to succeed in going to college and living his dream of working at NASA.