What if it was the summer of 1965, you were fourteen, and your father abandoned your family and your mother drank herself to death? What if during this one crazy summer you fell wildly in love with a girl?

From their tiny Mississippi hometown to the mountains of North Carolina, JT and his sister, Lesi begin a series of adventures, sometimes hilarious and other times frightening--and JT falls in love, but not before their lives take a dangerous and harrowing turn when brother and sister are attacked and seriously injured by an intruder when their aunt leaves them alone for a night to return to her job as a nurse.

On the journey to understanding their deceased mother and to finding the father who abandoned them, JT and Lesi discover much more--they find themselves and a new life in the process--and celebrate the miracle called the human spirit.