Virginia has lost one husband to the Great War, and can't find it within herself to properly love the second one. She has been stripped of privilege and place and been denied her simplest wishes. To protect herself, she retreats behind a mask of frigid solitude which is sufficiently adequate to protect herself from the risk of loving and being loved. Eddie is a poor boy from an abusive home. At every turn, his drunkard Pa drives the family deeper and deeper into debt, fear, and despair. But Eddie doesn't lose hope-not for his ma or his two younger siblings. He clings to the ideals of family love and reward for hard work. Virginia and Eddie couldn't be less alike, and yet their lives become intertwined by the harsh rules of reality and the vagaries of fate. Crying Days is the story of men and women living in a time when America struggled through two world wars, devastating economic hardships, and a world-wide flu epidemic. It is the story of faith and human nature, and ultimately, it is the story of the triumph of the desire to live in defiance of the hardships of this world.