Thirteen-year-old Danny Meyer's charmed life in Madison comes to an abrupt end when his concert pianist father falls ill and must give up his professorship. The family is forced to move to Milwaukee and live on the edge of poverty as his father's health worsens. Struggling with the change, Danny befriends the son of a gangster. Through brushes with a thrilling world of crime, he soon finds his way to a new confidence. <em>A Friend of Kissinger</em> captures a sentimental and authentic sense of place in a midwestern rust belt city, following a young man learning to make sense of the world around him.