During July of 1951 Adam is traumatized on the family farm in Wisconsin. He's unable to tell his parents what happened to him in the barn. Burdened by his secret, the ten-year-old boy begins to exhibit bazaar behavior. His worried parents don't know how to help him. They are preoccupied with earning a living and their own secrets. Adam's father, Giovanni Montanya, leaves the farm each morning to work on the assembly line at Nash Motors with Uncle Pete. Both men were drafted into the army after Pearl Harbor and suffer from the horrors of the war as the Korean War escalates. Adam's mother, Gertrude, drives the truck daily to the Farmers' Market to sell vegetables. Sometimes she takes Adam, his brother, Karl, or Grandma with her. The entire family works hard but their routine is harsh. Giovanni escapes by going to Jim's Bar while the women and Aunt Clara seek comfort in the Catholic Church. As the secrets are revealed, each person is changed for better or worse in this nove