The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Heimendinger, Chris. Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites. Covenant Communications, Inc., American Fork, Utah, 1989. Kindle AZW file.

Jim Hawkins is a 13-year-old boy trying to maneuver his way through peer pressure, family relationships, and the religious studies that are part of his everyday life. Garth Plimpton is a nerd – the boy who has all the answers in their religious classes and who is wholeheartedly invested in his religious life. Jim is among the boys who tease Garth until Jim becomes something of an outcast himself for refusing to bend to peer pressure. Then Garth reveals that he has found an ancient mural on the bank of a nearby river. The scene shows people running into a hole in the riverbank. Jim realizes that Frost Cave may hold the answers to that scene.

Jim and Garth set out to explore the cave. Jim's little sister, Jenny, tags along on the second outing. Jenny is the one who discovers a passageway that leads to the Rainbow Room, a huge cavern with phosphorescent walls and waterfalls. When Jenny falls into the stream, Jim instinctively plunges in after her and Garth follows. They wake on the bank of a lake and soon discover they are in an ancient world inhabited by the Nephites – the people they have studied their entire lives. They are amazed and only slightly worried until members of Amalickiah's followers capture them. Amalickiah is one of the villains of the Book of Mormon and Jim and Garth are on the verge of being sacrificed to one of their gods when a young man helps them escape. They wind up in the presence of Captain Teancum – one of the heroes of the Book of Mormon – but are forced to leave Jenny behind. They are accepted into Teancum's camp where Jim strikes up a relationship with Menochin, a girl his age. In this culture, most marry by the time they are 15 years of age, and Jim considers a life with Menochin if he cannot make his way home. She gives him a ring as a symbol of her love for him.

Jim and Garth have discovered they have the gift of tongues, meaning they are able to understand any language and everyone can understand them when they speak. Teancum and other Nephites are preparing to fight Amalickiah, and Jim and Garth agree to become interpreters for the vast Nephite armies. They soon uncover a plot hatched by dissenters to kill Teancum and other leaders. They manage to stop it. They part ways to serve two groups of the military with Jim remaining at Teancum's side. Jim soon experiences the horrors of war and is present when Teancum has only moments to mourn the death of his son before moving on the prepare for the next battle.

Teancum has a theory that Amalickiah's army will fall into disarray if its leader is killed on the first day of the new year, and he has a plan to accomplish that. Jim and Teancum slip into Amalickiah's camp, unseen as if God is protecting them. Teancum kills Amalickiah and Jim rescues Jenny. The following day, Amalickiah's army is in the chaos Teancum predicted, but Amalickiah's brother takes over as king and gathers the army back together.

Jim and Garth are reunited. Then, the boys and Jenny are summoned to the camp of Prophet Helaman. He reveals that God has revealed to him that Jim, Garth, and Jenny were sent to this land to prepare them for a future as religious leaders in the end times of their own lives. Helaman says they have been changed by their time there, and those changes will remain; however, the children will hold the memories only as long as their keep their adventures secret. Jenny quickly proves this true when she tells a friend about visiting the Nephites. By the following day, she has no memory of being there. Jim decides to write a manuscript about the adventure. Later, he has no memory of either the adventure or of writing the manuscript. He thinks that his grandmother wrote it. As Jim sets out on the next phase of his life, he touches the ring Menochin gave him. He knows it is important, though he has no distinct memory of where he got it.