It's about this guy who is climbing K2 in Pakistan, but doesn't make it. One the way down the mountain, he gets separated from his group. Very weak, he stumbles into a random little village, and they nurse him back to health. He wants to repay their kindness, sees that they need a school, so promises to come back and build them a school. The book then tells how he managed to get that school build and then kept building schools. When the book ends, there's 50-something schools, and I think the organization he formed now has built 80-something schools.

The book is interesting, how he figures out how to work with the completely different culture to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. I love the book. It reminds me of the amount of good one person can do.