"I had the best of hopes for him, and he died, and I had the worst of hopes for her, and she survived. What is the lesson in that?" This is the question that Nathaniel poses to his friend, Clarence, after life forces him into introspection. The death of his infant son, Juju, plunges Nathaniel into a thirty year depression and a morbid preoccupation with death. He abandons his beloved farm in Walkers Wood for the slums of Kingston. Ultimately, he chastises God, whom he refers to as Mr. Spiteful, for taking Juju - the one boy who was willing to stay on the farm and feed the nation. But is Nathaniel blaming the wrong guy for Juju's death? Is he the one who is to be blamed, and not Mr. Spiteful? "I lost a child, too," says Hortense, Nathaniel's wife. It is well known what happens to a woman after she loses a child. A part of her dies with that child. The other part of her wobbles through life on auto pilot. Eventually, she may even learn to laugh again. But what happens to a man when he loses his beloved boy?