Burke O. Roberts is desperate to leave the St. Michael's Orphanage in Hopewell, NJ 20 miles from Princeton. He schemes to get his name on The List of children for whom caring families are sought, while auditioning incoming inmates for baseball skills and avoiding the unwanted attentions of The Supervisor. When a seminarian arrives from Baltimore to coach the new team, dynamics are set in motion that propel the book to its explosive but plausible conclusion.