The story follows the French street performer turned high-wire artist
Philippe Petit as he attempts what he describes as "the coup of the century". Once the idea of walking a high-wire between the Twin Towers occurs, Petit becomes obsessed with it. With considerable deliberation and planning, he finally achieves his dream coup one early August morning in 1974. Before the notorious high-wire walk across the Twin Towers, he also walks a high-wire on the
Notre-Dame where he lived in Paris, France. Since the Twin Towers were still under construction, Petit and his friend disguised themselves as construction workers and easily blended in with the rest of the construction crew to sneak up to the south tower. They took around 440 lbs of cable through the elevator to the top 10 floors and waited until nightfall to carry it up 180 stairs onto the roof. At midnight, two more of his friends came to help. They tied a fishing line through an arrow and shot it across to Philippe 140 feet away from the north tower. However, they missed their mark due to the wind, and the arrow landed on a ledge. Philippe manages to retrieve the arrow by crawling down the ledge of the tower. To this line, he attached a stronger line, which his friends pulled back and he tied it to a cable that was 5/8 of an inch thick. The cable was so heavy that it took them 3 hours to secure the line from across the two towers. By the dawn of August 7, 1974, they tightened the ropes between the twin towers. Philippe then put on his black shirt and tights (which were specially prepared for the occasion), picked up his 28-foot balancing pole, and started walking on the wire. He felt "alone and absolutely free", as author Mordecai Gerstein writes. The bystanders noticed someone walking between the two towers and quickly notified the police. Officers rushed to the roof of the towers and yelled to Philippe, "You're under arrest!" For almost an hour Philippe walked, danced, and leaped back and forth between the wire. He even laid down to rest. When he felt completely satisfied, he walked towards the tower and held out his wrists towards the handcuffs. They brought Philippe to court and the judge sentenced him to perform in the park for the children of the city. This he did happily, though during his performance kids jerked his wire and Philippe fell but caught himself. ==Adaptations==