Underneath the town of Centralia, PA, a fire has been burning for over 35 years. When gas from the decades-old coal mine conflagration seeped into houses, and smoking vents appeared in the ground, the government found it cheaper to relocate the residents than to put out the fire. The few who remain continue their struggle with the government and themselves to preserve the memory of the mining boomtown, their Irish immigrant heritage, and the hope that someday the fire will be put out and the past restored.