Prairie Fire is a novel that takes place in the Fall of 1958 in and around Chicago, Ill. The main characters are four boys that attend, Bishop Malloy, a Catholic High School on Chicago's west side. Two are freshmen, an unlikely pair that become friends. Tony Barbini is a carefree son of an Irish mother and Italian father who is a savvy streetwise captain with the Chicago Police Department. Andrew Sikorski is a son of nuclear scientist and is haunted by the suicide death of his Polish mother when he was eight years old. Andrew has a brilliant mind and needs order in his life. He is the complete opposite of Tony, but circumstances bring them together. The other two boys are seniors on the Malloy football team, the favorite to win the city championship in the traditionally strong Chicago Catholic Conference. Mike Bonjonovich, the son of an unscrupulous restaurant supply company owner with mob ties, is possibly the most talented quarterback ever to play football in Chicago. He is also mean with a vicious temper. Idolizing Mike is an insecure Johnny Costello, his center, whose father is a blowhard hard-drinking Chicago Park District attendant. The boys all come together inadvertently on the first day of classes with the two seniors taking an instant dislike for Tony, and thus Andrew.