Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg) is a bright young high school student who is so good at physics that she can more or less easily slide into Harvard¾ if she tells them she wants to be one of the boys. To give her a push in that direction, her teacher suggests that during the summer she work on a project that showcases her skills. He emphasizes that it needs to have a personal touch to be most effective. While watching TV one day, Casey sees an ice skating competition and wonders about the aerodynamics of the sport and decides to make that her research project. The only ice skating Casey has done has been on the pond in her back yard.

She begins by going to the local ice skating rink where Coach Tina Harwood (Kim Cattrall, always fully clothed here as opposed to her role in TVs "Sex in the City"), is training students for a regional competition. Coach Harwood’s daughter Gen (Hayden Panettiere of "Racing Stripes") is an excellent skater who does not have her heart in what she is doing. Gen is one of the popular girls in school, while Casey is perceived as a geek. Gen is a "socialite" with only so-so grades, and she would rather use her intellect to get her grades up in math than skate. Casey’s mother Joan (Joan Cusack) points out that ice skaters have a career of maybe eight years, and then they do a few years on the "has been" circuit of ice shows. Mrs. Carlyle is a do the right thing feminist who thinks the skimpy skirts the women ice skaters perform in are demeaning and that a big time splurge is to make pancakes at home with white flour.

While Casey is working on her project, she decides that to best understand what she is doing, she must personally test her theories that she has developed on her computer. When she puts those theories to practice on a professionally groomed rink, as compared to the pond in her back yard, she learns two important things. One is that she’s good at it and more importantly, she has a passion for it that might surpass her love of physics.

Soon Casey is practicing to enter a skating competition, considering taking a pass on getting into Harvard and not telling her mother how dramatically her life has changed. She’s also met Teddy (Trevor Blumas), her first love, at the skating rink, who happens to be Gen’s brother.

The film provides some behind the scenes reality of what it takes to be a professional skater. Part of it is talent, while much of it is a willingness to work, financial sacrifices by the family, and handling the ruthlessness of skating competitors.

This charming film is a must see for anyone that gets that addiction every four years to see every Olympic skating competition. With respect to values and lessons of life to be learned, this is an effort by Disney that’s on par with "The Rookie." This is a movie aimed at girls that even boys will enjoy.