Yellow-Billed Magpie is a love story, a spiritual journey, a quest to look beyond appearances to the mystical rhythms that guide the human heart. Unlike their black-billed cousins, yellow-billed magpies are rarely found outside California's Central Valley. When they begin showing up in Samantha O'Malley's dreams, she wonders: are they calling me home? Disappointed by failed fertility treatments and the break-up of her marriage, Samantha returns to her home town and slips into old habits, resuming her teaching career, even hooking up with an old lover. But she also renews her friendship with Craig, the school custodian she honors as her spiritual guide. The work they do together with Samantha's special education students will lead her to discoveries she never thought possible.