Aviator Danny McCool makes an emergency landing in an Indiana cornfield in 1938, disrupting the life of the local Walstra family while his airplane is repaired. Thirty years later, the Walstra's' eleven-11 year- old granddaughter opens up her life to us---her pre-teen insecurities, her hopes and fears, the family dysfunction that follows the death of her mother. The two stories grow side by side, coming together in the end when Danny McCool returns to town for Thanksgiving. What is it about Danny McCool ? Is he a hero, a villain, or an ordinary man? The book shows how easy it is to misjudge people and how one person or event can change everything.