The dynamics of a vapor bubble between its liquid phase and a heated plate is studied in relation to the breakdown and recovery of the film boiling. By examining the expansion and the contraction of the vapor bubble the film boiling and transition boiling states are predicted. Conservation laws in the vapor, solid, and liquid phases are invoked along with fully nonlinear, coupled, free boundary conditions. These coupled system of equations are reduced to a single evolution equation for the local thickness of the vapor bubble by using a long-wave asymptotics, which is then solved numerically to yield the transient motion of the vapor bubble. Of the numerous parameters involved in this complex phenomenon we focus on the effects of the degree of superheat from the solid plate, that of the supercooling through the liquid, and the wetting/dewetting characteristics of the liquid on the solid plate. A material property of the substrate thus is incorporated into the criteria for the film boiling based on hydrodynamic models. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.